


wicked game

by HPsmartone32



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: At least for a bit, M/M, also def gets a bit smutty at times so fair warning/oops, in which morning after regret is taken to a new level
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-02-14 23:33:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13018539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HPsmartone32/pseuds/HPsmartone32
Summary: A lot has changed since Teddy Lupin left England for a research position in India four years ago. Now that he’s back, he’s a little annoyed that no one thought to fill him in on the important details he missed while away.For example, he really would have appreciated it if Victoire mentioned that James Potter was gaybeforeTeddy accidentally went home from a dark club with him.





	1. i. i never dreamed that i’d meet somebody like you

**Author's Note:**

> stupid story idea wouldn't leave me alone. 
> 
> potter kids' ages might be a bit wonky, i played with their birthday months a bit so that they're 21/20/18 on the day this starts but were 16/15/13 when teddy left because it was early in the year. just go with it.
> 
> story title and chapter titles from the song 'wicked game' by chris isaak because it was playing on repeat while i wrote this and it fit pretty well.
> 
> should be way under 10 chapters, just fyi

Teddy tugged his favorite, worn-in denim jacket back into place after the Very Personal and Not Entirely Necessary pat down he’d gotten from the doorman. He wasn’t complaining _that_ much, mainly because the doorman looked like he stepped out of an advert for men’s cologne or something, but still. _At least buy me dinner first, damn._

 

He looked around for the glossy strawberry-blonde hair of the person he was meeting. Teddy sighed and pushed his own hair – a powdery blue today – out of his face. Victoire had to be around somewhere.

 

It was darker than he’d anticipated in club, and he was having a hard time making out anyone’s face in the crowd after the bright street lights outside. He could, however, see that the place was _packed_ – something Teddy hadn’t expected on Thursday night. From the looks of it, the gay scene in London didn’t give a flying kneazle what day of the week it was. He usually wasn’t the biggest fan of dingy clubs with about a million people crammed in them, but Teddy found himself smiling anyway.

 

It was good to be back.

 

“Teddy!” He turned, squinting, and saw Victoire near the neon-lit bar, legitimately standing on a barstool and waving at him so enthusiastically that he was a bit frightened she would topple over. His grin split open.

 

He pushed his way through the crowd and when he had nearly reached her, Victoire jumped from the stool with all the grace of a part-veela professional quidditch player and crashed into him, standing on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. Her hair was still wet, likely from her after-practice shower, and it was cold on his neck. He wrapped his around her waist anyway, holding her to him tightly.

 

Merlin, it was good to see her.

 

“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” she said into his ear, ever on the same page.

 

“Me too, Tori.”

 

She pulled away, laughing, “I can’t believe I still let you call me that.”

 

“I’d like to see you try to stop me,” Teddy challenged. “Though, on second thought, not if you get Elliot involved. How is he, anyway?”

 

A soppy expression crossed Victoire’s face at the mention of her fiancé, “He’s good. He wanted to come, but he had to work tonight.”

 

“I doubt this is his scene,” Teddy laughed.

 

She looked around, as if she’d forgotten where they were, “No, I guess not.” She grinned. “Picked it so that I’m not the one that’ll be hit on all night.”

 

Teddy rolled his eyes and she laughed again, and broke away from him to drag him towards the bar. “I can’t believe you actually got me to come to a gay bar.”

 

Victoire snorted and signaled the bartender, “Just because you’re out to negative people besides me doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun, Teddy-bear.”

 

“Yeah, _that_ particular nickname is definitely not going to fly while we’re here,” Teddy looked around nervously. “Besides, I just got back this morning. I’m not really looking to pull a bloke when I’m staying with my Gran.”

 

“God, that’d be hilarious though,” Victoire sighed, falling onto the bar stool she’d previously been standing on and tugging her Holyhead Harpies shirt down where it had ridden up.

 

The bartender made his way over to them, wearing the tightest jeans Teddy had ever seen and a fishnet shirt. He was _incredibly_ fit. He stopped in front of Teddy and looked him up and down before smirking at him.

 

“Don’t think I’ve seen you around here before,” he said, somehow managing to make the relatively innocent sentence sound absolutely filthy. Teddy felt his face heat up and willed himself to maintain a control on his hair color.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Victoire snickering. She turned to the bartender, “You wouldn’t – he just got back in town. He’s been abroad for the last _four and a half bloody years_.”

 

Hot Bartender raised his eyebrows, “Is that so?” he looked him up and down again. _Slowly._ “You do look a bit too tan to have spent the last few months here. Where have you been?”

 

“India,” Teddy said, thanking every Indian god he’d heard of while he was there that his voice remained steady.

 

“Teddy’s an _Unspeakable_ ,” Victoire told him.

 

“Usually the hot ones haven’t got an ounce of brains in them,” the bartender cocked his head to the side. “Good on you.”

 

“Er – thanks?”

 

“What can I get for you?” the bartender finally asked, pulling his wand from a back pocket that Teddy was pretty sure shouldn’t be able to hold anything.

 

After they’d received the drinks they ordered – and the bartender insisted they call him if they needed _anything_ – they were left alone again.

 

Teddy took a sip of his drink, “You know, most people would find it weird to be wingmaned by an ex-girlfriend.”

 

Victoire laughed, a tinkling sound that Teddy still loved, “Yeah, but we’ve never been exactly traditional have we, dear?”

 

Teddy leaned against the bar and grinned, “No, I guess not.”

 

Victoire was his best friend, his main confidant, and, well, he _had_ told her he was pretty sure he was gay about a year into their relationship… after they had moved in together. Luckily, she’d taken it a lot better than he thought she would. She’d been upset at first, yelling and screaming, but after a few days, she’d calmed down. She had told him that she still loved him and she supported him. He’d moved into the guest room of their flat while they figured out what they were going to do.

 

They’d ‘dated’ for another six months before Teddy was accepted for a research position in the Indian Department of Mysteries giving them a nice, ready-made excuse to ‘break-up’ on good terms.

 

Victoire had visited him in India more than anyone else in the family, coming down for a few days almost every time she was given more than a weekend off from training. Other than Victoire and her fiancé (who Teddy had let be informed so he didn’t have to worry about getting hexed in his sleep), no one knew about Teddy’s sexual preferences.

 

It was easy to make excuses for not having girlfriends when you lived in a different country. Now that he was back, he reckoned he’d have to sack up and tell people… Maybe not right away, though.

 

Teddy and Victoire caught up over more drinks than Teddy had anticipated as the music in the club rose steadily as it got later in the night. Teddy found himself happily intoxicated by the time it was nearly too loud to talk without screaming, and Victoire seemed to be having a damned good time laughing at the number of men that came over to chat Teddy up.

 

He finally managed to shake off the most recent – with no help from his shit best mate, thanks – and turned to signal the bartender for a refill. Looking down the bar, his eyes fell on the shadowy profile of a man that Teddy was about ninety-eight percent sure had been carved from marble by at least three gods and sent to Earth purely to set Teddy’s heart pounding.

 

Teddy couldn’t make out direct features due to the dim, neon-washed lighting and the distance, but he easily got the gist. The man had messy hair that stuck up in so many directions it was basically telling gravity to fuck off. He had cheekbones that might have sliced through a lesser man’s heart, and plump lips that were currently pulled into an amused grin.

 

He was also wearing a very tight shirt that showed Teddy _very clearly_ that this man knew what a good workout was.

 

It made Teddy want to give him a good workout himself.

 

He saw the bartender, who was talking to the bloke Teddy couldn’t stop staring at, say something to that caused Mr. Too-Attractive-To-Exist to turn his head to look down the bar. Before he had fully turned, Teddy registered that his name was being called.

 

Teddy shook himself and quickly looked back at Victoire, his mouth dry.

 

“What?”

 

Victoire stared at him, amused, “I’ve been saying your name for the past minute.” She narrowed her eyes, looking down the bar, “Who were you staring at? Dave the Hot Bartender?”

 

“No,” Teddy admitted. “Look, down there in the dark colored shirt with the muscles and the perfect bloody face.” He turned and tried to locate the man again through the haze of alcohol and people, but he was gone. “Damn, he’s not there.”

 

“You sure you haven’t just had too much to drink, Ted?” Victoire laughed, her words blending together a bit.

 

Teddy closed one eye and looked at her, “You _are_ a bit blurry, now that you mention it. But just about the edges.”

 

“Maybe we should head out?”

 

Teddy nodded and the world seemed to shake along with his head, “Good idea.”

 

They made their way out of the club, which was more packed than it had been hours ago when Teddy arrived, and into the cool December night. Victoire shivered, zipping her jacket, and threw out her wand hand. Teddy cursed. Victoire barely had time to turn to him, her face a question, before the Knight Bus careened seemingly out of thin air and stopped in front of them.

 

“Forgot my jacket inside,” Teddy told her. “Fuck, it’s my favorite. I have to go get it.”

 

“All aboard!” shouted the driver, irritated that they weren’t climbing onto the bus.

 

“You go ahead,” Teddy told her. “I’ll get a muggle cab or something, Gran’s place actually isn’t that far from here.”

 

“Are you –”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You can get back alright on your own?”

 

“I’m a big girl, Lupin,” Victoire rolled her eyes.

 

The driver of the bus, someone Teddy had never seen behind the wheel before (though that didn’t mean much presently), blew the horn loudly.

 

Teddy resisted the urge to show him two fingers and kissed Victoire’s cheek, “See you tomorrow?”

 

She nodded and stepped onto the bus, “Love you, Ted.”

 

“Love you, Tori,” Teddy smiled and waved as she cleared the entrance of the bus and the doors shut. It was gone in another blink of his eyes.

 

 

Getting back into the club proved surprisingly easy – apparently if the doorman feels you up the first time, he’ll remember you a few hours later and let you skip the line. Color Teddy pleased.

 

Rolling his eyes, he skirted around the various dancing couples that were now occupying every inch of the club and pulled his jacket from behind the bar where Dave the Hot Bartender had let him stash it.

 

Surprised at how easy the whole ordeal had been, Teddy slipped his arms through his jacket, turned from the bar, and immediately crashed into someone very solid.

 

“Sorry!” Teddy screamed at the same time the other man yelled, “Fuck!”

 

The man was staring at the floor and Teddy furrowed his brows, “Are you okay?” he yelled over the music.

 

“Glasses!” the man called back, bent over as he searched for them amongst the jostling crowd.

 

“Oh, shit,” Teddy joined him in the search, trying to ignore the slight alcohol-induced spin of the floor underneath him. A few seconds passed and then he found them. His heart sank. He swiped them from the floor in two hands. They were shattered. “Got them,” Teddy called, nudging the man he’d run into.

 

He stood up and turned to face him. Teddy’s pulse rose so fast he felt faint. It was the man he’d been ogling earlier. Teddy still couldn’t make out that much of the details, it was dark and he was a bit blurry around the edges from the alcohol, but the general picture of the man in front of him had him swallowing hard.

 

Of course. Teddy had to go and break the glasses of the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen in his goddamn life because _of course he did._

 

The man reached out his hand and Teddy put the two pieces of his glasses in the up-turned palm, leaning in a bit to call, “I think someone stepped on them, I’m so sorry.”

 

Lips-of-an-Angel cursed creatively, holding his hand up to his face to examine the pieces, “Of course they did.” He looked up at Teddy, and Teddy was relieved that he didn’t look angry. “Right when I’m a bit too smashed to repair them. Any chance you’re sober?” he asked, his mouth turning up on one side, which was very distracting.

 

Teddy couldn’t find his voice; apparently the club’s Resident Adonis was not only fucking beautiful, but was also taking this all very well, considering. Teddy was pretty excited that all signs pointed to him _not_ getting punched in the face.

 

He shook his head in answer.

 

Sir Shag-Me-Silly suddenly squinted at him and stepped closer, “Wait a tic, I noticed you earlier, Blue. I can’t see much detail, but I remember that hair color.” he man’s eyes slid from Teddy’s face to his hair. “You were checking me out.”

 

Usually Teddy would have felt his face heat up in a moment like this. However, at the moment, Teddy was moderately drunk. And Drunk Teddy had a lot more confidence than Not-Drunk Teddy when it came to devilishly attractive men, so he just raised his eyebrows, “Cocky, aren’t you? Maybe I was just trying to signal the bartender.”

 

The man smirked at him and put his ruined glasses in his back pocket. He stepped even closer to Teddy and leaned forward so he could speak right into his ear, “If I believed that, I’d be pretty wrecked right now.”

 

Teddy shivered. In the part of his mind that wasn’t in complete and total shock, he realized that this gorgeous man was hitting on him. _Well, don’t mind if I do._

 

Teddy leaned forward so that their chests were barely touching and put a hand on the man’s stomach. He turned his head until his lips just ghosted over the not-so-strange stranger’s ear, “And why is that?”

 

“Been thinking about running my hands through that hair since I caught you staring,” the man said, sounding a little breathless. Teddy’s hand slipped lower, rested on his hipbone.

 

“Who’s stopping you?”

 

Teddy heard a groan from the other man and then hands flew to his face and pushed through his hair as he roughly brought their lips together. Teddy responded instantly, his hand sneaking from the man’s hip to his back in order to pull him closer. His other hand went to the back of his neck.

 

Against his, Mystery Man’s lips felt even better than they had looked, and they’d looked fucking amazing. Teddy’s mind went blank and his head was spinning in a way he was _almost_ certain wasn’t the alcohol anymore. Teddy ran his tongue along his New Favorite Human’s bottom lip and felt the vibration of a moan pass into his mouth as it opened to him.

 

They tripped backwards, running knocking into other couples until Teddy felt solid resistance from the body in front of him. He pulled back and opened his eyes in surprise. They had backed against a wall.

 

“I don’t think so,” his snogging partner brought his attention back to him by grabbing the lapels of his jacket, pulling Teddy flush against him, and kissing him again.

 

Teddy grinned against his mouth, pulling back the slightest bit, “Are you always this friendly to people who run into you in clubs?”

 

He felt a chuckle jump from the other man’s chest into his, “I am when they have a nice arse and are attractive enough that Dave messes up an order.”

 

Teddy pulled back and glanced over at the bar, “Dave the H – bartender?”

  
“Known him for years,” said the other, using the distraction to press his mouth against Teddy’s neck, hot and insistent.

 

Teddy made a sound he wasn’t comfortable naming, his eyes closing as his hand twisted into gravity-defying hair, “Well, let’s give you a good story to tell him then, eh?” With that, he pulled at the hair until those perfect lips were no longer connected to his neck and he could attack them with his own.

 

Dave the Hot Bartender’s mate seemed perfectly fine with this, responding enthusiastically.  Teddy ran his teeth over that stupidly plump bottom lip as strong hands roamed down Teddy’s chest, boldly swept under his shirt, and pressed warm and rough against his back. Teddy exhaled sharply, and used a knee to nudge the man’s legs apart so he could properly and fully press up against him.

 

“Oi! JP! _JP!_ ”

 

With a loud, put-upon groan, Teddy’s partner pulled away and turned toward the direction the shouting was coming from. Teddy turned to see a tall, dark, well-build man standing nearby, looking annoyed. Teddy’s Gorgeous Bloke – JP, apparently – scowled at him, “A bit busy, mate.”

 

“Yeah, can’t even trust you to get drinks, can I? Your brother’s leaving!” JP’s mate called back.

 

JP looked at him for a second in disbelief then turned back to Teddy. His lips looked absolutely _sinful_. “Listen Blue, pretty sure I can still apparate. Can we get the _fuck_ out of here?”

 

Some nasty, prudish part of Teddy’s mind tried to tell him that going home with a bloke he’d just met and hadn’t even properly been introduced to was a terrible idea.

 

A larger, slightly tipsy part of his brain pointed out that if he didn’t get his hands on JP soon he’d probably _die_.

 

So Teddy nodded.

 

“Brilliant,” JP said, kissing him briefly. He pulled one hand from Teddy’s shirt long enough to flip his mate the bird, then wrapped it around him again and turned on the spot.

 

 

 

Teddy barely had time to feel his feet on solid ground before JP’s mouth was on his neck. He cracked open his eyes to take in his surroundings. The room was dark, the only light coming in from the street lights outside, but Teddy could tell that it was a nice flat. He saw hints of photograph frames around the room, but couldn’t make out the inhabitants of them.

 

Then JP’s teeth skimmed his earlobe and he decided he didn’t much care where he was anymore. He tugged on JP’s hair until he brought their mouths together, teeth clashing as they tried to occupy the same space.

 

“Off,” JP muttered against his mouth, tugging his jacket down his arms. Teddy happily complied, throwing it onto the couch behind him. JP hummed appreciatively and ran his hands up Teddy’s arms. His hands were large and strong and rough and Teddy was _so_ into it.

 

Teddy kissed him again, running his tongue along his bottom lip until JP opened and met it with his own. Teddy’s hands traveled down to JP’s waist and began a valiant attempt to peel the shirt off of his body, “Off,” he breathed, and felt JP smile against him.

 

JP pulled back, slipped out of his reach, and pulled the shirt over his head. Teddy pulled his own off, then took in the sight that was the beautiful man.

 

 _Fuck_.

 

It seemed the only word his mind could come up with at present.

 

JP reached out and after a bit of patting various parts of Teddy – “Shut _up_ , you broke my glasses, remember!” – he found Teddy’s shirt still in his hands and grabbed it, tossing it over his shoulder, before he got a hand around the back of Teddy’s neck. Then he was kissing him again and Teddy stopped laughing and started running his hands over every part of JP’s skin he could reach.

 

God, he was fit. _So fucking fit_.

 

Teddy had definitely never pulled a bloke _this_ good looking before – and Teddy had pulled his fair share of blokes while he was in India.

 

JP’s hands were in his hair, and he pulled Teddy’s head backward and went to work on his skin again, sucking and licking and driving Teddy _crazy._ When JP sucked particularly hard on a spot on his neck just below his ear, Teddy moaned, low and needy, and he felt a smirk against his neck.

 

Teddy’s hands ran down JP’s back, and he hooked thumbs under the waistband of his jeans, dragging a slow line to the front of them, where he boldly went to work undoing JP’s belt. His fingertips grazed an impressive bulge in JP’s trousers and JP jerked his hips into Teddy and nipped at his collarbone through a groan.

 

Teddy managed to get the belt undone and pop the button on JP’s jeans quickly, a feat he was fairly proud of considering JP was trailing sloppy kisses lower on his body. As JP kicked out of his jeans, he kissed Teddy quickly on the mouth before expertly pushing the button through on Teddy’s jeans and pulling them down as he kissed his navel, below his navel, _right above his pants_.

 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Teddy said, his voice cracking as JP’s breath ghosted over his cock through his pants.

 

JP hmm’d at him, ran a hand over his cock through his briefs causing Teddy to snap his hips into his hand, and then looked up, the very picture of sex.

 

“Bed, _now_.”

 

Teddy had no objections.

 

He allowed himself to be pulled through a door and into the darkened bedroom. He registered the large bed just before JP spun him around and gave him a slight push back toward it. Teddy laughed, stumbling backward, and jumped back onto the bed.

 

JP lunged, climbing onto the bed and kissing his knee, his inner thigh, his upper thigh. Teddy’s hands found JP’s hair – which was softer than it had any right to be – and tugged at it until JP continued up and fall onto him, his whole body pressed into Teddy’s.

 

“Remind me to let attractive blokes break my glasses more often,” JP breathed, his entire face a smirk, before Teddy kissed him again. Teddy adjusted his hands and ran them down JP’s back, feeling his muscles tense. JP’s skin was warm on his, and he could feel his cock against his hip.

 

Teddy rocked up, desperate for friction, and JP broke away and cursed, his head falling into Teddy’s shoulder. Teddy rolled his hips again, mouthing at JP’s neck, and thought vaguely that this wasn’t going to last very long if JP kept making those noises right in his goddamn ear.

 

It had been a while since Teddy last found himself in someone’s bed, okay, it wasn’t his fault.

 

“ _God_ ,” JP moaned in a rough voice that went straight to Teddy’s cock. JP pressed a kiss to Teddy’s shoulder, his collarbone, his chest. He slowly, torturously, made his way down Teddy’s body.

 

When he reached Teddy’s pants he looked up with a wicked grin, running a hand over him in one purposeful movement. Teddy bit back another string of expletives.

 

“Alright?” JP said, hooking his fingers under the waistband and waiting for permission.

 

“Fuck. Yes.” Teddy ground out. JP wasted no time stripping Teddy of his last article of clothing.

 

Throwing Teddy’s pants over his shoulder, he made what Teddy hoped was an appreciative noise and looked up, maintaining eye contact as he slowly licked underside of his cock. Teddy wasn’t proud of it, but the sight and feel of that move alone nearly undid him.

 

He let his head fall back onto the bed and cursed, which JP took as encouragement, and went to work. Teddy had had his fair share of blowjobs in his life, but _fucking hell_ did this bloke know what he was doing. In significantly less time than he’d have liked, Teddy was breaking his string of muttered curses to warn him before coming so hard he saw stars.

 

He watched through lidded eyes, his limbs jelly, as JP pulled off and swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, “Fuck, that was hot,” he muttered, and slipped off his own pants, a hand finding his cock.

 

“I – _what?_ ” Teddy nearly laughed. He managed to sit up, and grab one of JP’s arms, pulling him up the bed. He pushed at his side until JP fell onto his back beside him, then Teddy rolled over and kissed him as he replaced JP’s hand with his own.

 

“You think _that_ was hot?” Teddy asked in a low voice, as he started pumping his hand. He earned himself a throaty moan. “Tomorrow morning I’m going to suck you off until you forget your name and then –”

 

“ _Fuck_ ,” JP cut him off as Teddy’s hand twisted at just the right time. Teddy didn’t still his hand until he felt JP go slack underneath him.

 

Teddy collapsed next to JP then as the latter evened out his breathing.

 

“Damn, Blue,” JP muttered after a minute or two.

 

Teddy chuckled, “Damn, yourself.”

 

He felt the tingle of a cleaning charm rush over his hand, which had been pressed against JP’s stomach and opened his eyes enough to register that JP definitely didn’t have his wand on him. Before he could work up enough comprehension to be impressed, JP rolling onto his side and threw an arm over Teddy’s waist. It wasn’t long before both of them were fast asleep.

 

 

 

 

 

Teddy’s first thought upon waking was that he was entirely too comfortable; his bed in his Gran’s apartment was old and small and definitely didn’t feel like sleeping on a cloud. It was a few seconds before the events of last night crashed back into his head and he opened his eyes in alarm.

 

Next to him, was the very bare back of a _very_ fit man with very messy auburn hair. The duvet was gathered around his waist, and his arms were tucked under his pillow. His face was turned away from him, but Teddy’s eyes traced the muscles of his biceps, his shoulders, his back, and, suddenly, try as he might, he just couldn’t make himself feel bad about going home with a stranger his first night back in London.

 

He’d just say he slept over at Victoire’s and everything would be fine. Okay, his Gran might murder him for not warning her, but he’d had a beautiful man suck him off last night so, really, fair trade.

 

Teddy looking around, eyes skimming until he noticed a door that looked like it led to the loo. He slipped out of bed quietly, not wanting to wake JP, and rubbed his eyes as he padded over.

 

After he hit the head, he looked himself over as he washed his hands. He noticed a mark JP had sucked into his neck and nearly groaned – that’d be hard to explain to the entire family tonight. The Potter’s were throwing a combined _Welcome Home, Teddy!_ and _Happy Birthday, Lily!_ party at their place and Teddy was pretty sure nearly every member of the very extended Weasley family would be in attendance.

 

Maybe he could get away with a scarf? Claim that he wasn’t used to the cold temperatures anymore or something. Yes, that could work.

 

Walking back into the bedroom, he saw that JP had rolled over and thrown an arm over his face, “ _Why_ are you awake so early? Don’t you know it’s the weekend?”

 

Teddy chuckled, “First off, it’s ten in the morning, and secondly, it’s Friday – usually that’s not considered the weekend. Don’t you have work?”

 

He climbed back in bed, eyes raking down the other body in it. _Fucking hell he’s got an eight pack. I didn’t know that was_ possible _._

“The weekend is the day after quidditch games,” JP told him without removing his arm. “So no, I’m off today.”

 

Teddy’s eyebrows found his hair, “You play professionally?” That would explain the insanely fit body.

 

JP snorted, “No, I _win_ professionally.”

 

Teddy laughed, and moved down the bed, “Quite the pronouncement.” He trailed his hands over JPs stomach and felt it tense under his hand. He moved the duvet lower with his other hand, happy to find that he was still naked, and bent to kiss one of JP’s way-too-many abdominal muscles.

 

JP made a sound of contentment in the back of his throat. “Won 320-50 last night, and I definitely _do_ mean brag here: I’m the Keeper.”

 

Teddy hmm’d as he moved to straddle one of JP’s legs, pressing kisses lower as he went. “Woulda been more impressive if they hadn’t scored at all, don’t you think?” he said, grinning – that was what he always said to James Potter when he ran up to Teddy going on and on about the last match he’d won at Hogwarts.

 

JP chuckled, “You know, you’re not the first one to say that to me. But I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still definitely going to find time to be offended later when you’re not doing such wonderful things with your mouth.”

 

Teddy smirked, lowering himself properly between JPs legs now, “What team do you play for? I’ve got two mates who play professionally and –” he looked up then, and stopped talking when, for the first time that morning, met JP’s eyes. JP had put on a pair of glasses that he must have had in his bedside table or something and Teddy felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. This man was entirely too familiar…

 

“ _Teddy?!_ ”

 

It crashed into him like a hundred bludgers and Teddy leapt off of him so quickly that he tumbled out of the bed altogether, wrapped up in the duvet and nothing else.

 

“ _James?!_ ”

 

 _James fucking Potter_ was scrambling up the bed now, pulling a pillow from the side of the bed that Teddy had slept on to cover himself since Teddy had taken the duvet down with him.

 

Teddy sat up, his mouth opening and closing as he looked at James, unable to form words until, “You’re _gay?_ ”

 

James, whose eyes were about three sizes too big as he stared at Teddy on the floor, let out a shocked laugh, “Of all the shit you could ask right now, you go with the one thing I’ve proven pretty definitively?”

 

Teddy moaned miserably, dropping his head into his hands at the memories of what he had done last night with _his godfather’s son_.

 

Fucking hell, he had been about thirty seconds from having his mouth on James’ cock.

 

“Fuck,” James said. “I can’t believe I got off with Teddy Lupin. Oh, my God.”

 

Teddy made a choking noise from the floor.

 

“Wait, _you’re_ gay?” came a sudden realization from above. “You dated Victoire for, like, ages, and _oh my God, Victoire and I have both –_ ”

 

“Stop!” Teddy cut in, looking up. “Please, Merlin, do not finish that sentence.”

 

James looked at him, eyes still wide in shock. He ran a hand through his hair – which no part of Teddy was distracted by at all, thanks – and looked at Teddy helplessly confused, “What the _fuck_?”

 

Teddy passed a hand over his face, “Victoire knows. We’re still mates. Those last six months we were together, we weren’t really together,” he looked back at James. “Your turn.”

 

James looked at him for a second, then laughed as he said, “My turn to what? Explain how I’m gay? Have you been living under a rock? Fuck, I can’t walk down the damn street without reporters asking what it’s like to be a _Gay International Quidditch Star_. I’ve been out since I graduated Hogwarts.”

 

Teddy stared at him. _Well_ , he thought, _James_ was _about sixteen when I left and –_

He felt the color drain from his face, he’d forgotten that James was nearly six years younger than him. That he, Teddy, had _actual memories_ of when James was still in diapers. _Actual memories_ of Harry, _the man who’d practically raised Teddy himself_ , changing those diapers.

 

Teddy felt nauseous.

 

“How did this fucking happen?” James said, dropping his head back against the headboard with a thud. “I was fucking blind without my glasses, obviously, but how did you not –”

 

“Oi!” Teddy said indignantly, not about to let James pass this off on him. “It was dark! And, well…” Teddy trailed off, his face reddening.

 

He saw James look down at him, “What?”

 

“You… you grew up, didn’t you? You look completely fucking different than you did when I left!”

 

“Well, yeah, I was sixteen, I hadn’t –”

 

“God, I’m going to be sick,” Teddy moaned, falling back to lie on the floor with his eyes shut.

 

“Alright,” James said, his voice tight. “That’s a bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?”

 

“You were _sixteen_ when I left!” Teddy cried.

 

“I’m not sixteen anymore, I’m twenty-one!” James said. “Shit, you’re not _that_ much older than me.”

 

“Merlin, you used to say that when you were a kid,” Teddy said, pained, as he remembered James at eight, at eleven, when he wouldn’t get his way.

 

“Oh, fuck off, I’m not a kid anymore,” James exclaimed. “Or do I need to remind you of last night? Or of _five minutes ago_.”

 

Teddy groaned again and rolled over so that his face was pressed into James’ carpet. Maybe if he got lucky he would suffocate in the carpet and die and not have to live with the fact that he’d hooked up with James Sirius Potter.

 

Or, worse, that he’d hooked up with James Sirius Potter and _really fucking enjoyed it_.

 

What bloody right did James have to go and get _attractive_ while Teddy was gone? For fucks sake, he was supposed to have knobby knees, an annoying habit of following Teddy around, and be about five years old.

 

He heard James shift on the bed and sighed. He rolled over and sat up, “Okay,” he looked up at James and immediately started blushing again. Merlin, he was going to have to get Victoire to _Avada Kedavra_ him.

 

 _Or you could tell Harry you hooked up with his son and see if it happens naturally!_ The nasty part of Teddy’s brain told him helpfully before serenading him with a rousing chorus of _I told you so_ ’s.

 

“What?” James said, looking nervous.

 

“I’m going to leave and then we’re going to pretend that this never happened.”

 

James stared at him. “ _That’s_ your brilliant plan?” he deadpanned.

 

“Do you have any better ideas?” Teddy scowled.

 

James looked like he wanted to laugh again, “Maybe not, but I’m not a highly trained Unspeakable, am I?”

 

“No, you’ve clearly just taken too many bludgers to the head.”

 

“Original,” James rolled his eyes. “Really creative, that is. Definitely never heard that one before.”

 

“Bloody hell, close your eyes or something while I find my pants.”

 

James snorted, but did as he was told. “I think I threw them over by my dresser,” he commented helpfully.

 

The memory of it flashed through his mind and Teddy bit back another groan. He made sure that James still had his eyes shut before he quickly crossed the room and pulled them on. Then walked out of James’ bedroom and found his trousers in the living room and pulled them on too.

 

He was just doing up the zipper when James walked out of his bedroom in only his pants and leaned against the door frame. Teddy refused to let his eyes drift any lower than James’ face, regardless of how hard they tried. James tossed Teddy his shirt, which had been hanging on the doorknob to the bedroom.

 

“Nice flat,” Teddy said, pulling it over his head and breaking the awful silence with terribly awkward small talk.

 

James raised a single eyebrow at him, “Comes with being the star Keeper of a professional quidditch team.”

 

“Don’t you mean a _Gay International Quidditch Star Keeper_?” Teddy asked, dryly.

 

The corner of James’ mouth twitched up, “Quite.”

 

Teddy rolled his eyes and plucked his jacket from James’ couch. When he slid it over his shoulders and looked back at James, he found the younger man still staring.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing,” James shrugged. “Just… can’t believe you’re actually back in England, I guess.”

 

Teddy was vaguely certain that he’d rather have been in India than in James Potter’s English apartment after a one night stand, but he thought expressing that sentiment might actually offend him. “Yeah, me neither,” he said instead. He looked around for the front door, “Look, I should–”

 

“Over there,” James nodded to the one on Teddy’s right. “You can’t apparate in or out unless you’re with me, it’s got these security measures on it and… well, you know how Dad is.”

 

Teddy felt nauseous again.

 

_Yep. Definitely time to get going._

 

“So,” he said awkwardly. “After I go –”

“Trust me, mate, you’re hot as fuck and all, but I won’t be shouting around about this,” James laughed.

 

Teddy wasn’t sure how he felt about that, so he let it be, “Look, I… It’s just the only one that knows about – er –   _me_ is Victoire and –”

 

“Christ, Ted, I’ve just said I’m not going to out you to the whole family. I may like dicks, but that doesn’t mean I am one,” James said, sounding annoyed now.

 

“Okay, okay, sorry,” Teddy said quickly. He walked toward the door, but before opening it he turned back, “I don’t think you’re a dick, James. That’s not what I meant.”

 

James ran a hand through his hair again, and Teddy watched his muscles flex and relax with the motion. He swallowed hard.

 

Goddamnit, he needed to get the _fuck_ out of this apartment.

 

“I know it’s not,” James finally sighed. Merlin, it was weird seeing James look so _adult_. Teddy nodded in response and opened the door. He was almost through it when he heard James say, in an amused voice, “See you tonight, Teddy!”

 

Teddy snapped the door shut hard in response.


	2. ii. it’s strange what desire will make foolish people do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a few confessions and a Proper Weasley Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a filler chapter, but had to get some of the characters in the mix somehow. Hope you guys like it anyway :D
> 
>  
> 
> P.S. Might also be a bit rough around the edges, but I wanted to get this up as soon as possible for you guys and I'm traveling all day tomorrow.

 

 

It was fortunate that Victoire had been so excited to move in with Elliot that she’d sent Teddy a picture of the building, and another picture of the two of them outside their apartment –it was number… _shit_ … Teddy closed his eyes, attempting to bring the memory back.

 

2114.

 

Teddy stopped outside 2114 and saw a Christmas wreath on it that sparkled a bit too much to be entirely normal. Yes, this had to be right.

 

He rapped hard on the door, taking a deep breath and trying not to panic as he waited for someone to answer.

 

When what felt like a full minute passed, Teddy frowned slightly and knocked again. It wasn’t until he was bringing his hand down that he finally remembered that it was Friday. He cursed. Elliot was definitely at work, and Victoire was probably at the pitch.

 

Hell, he was going to explode if he didn’t get to talk to someone about what had just fucking happened and Victoire was one of two… shit, _three,_ people in London who even knew that Teddy was gay.

 

He grit his teeth in annoyance at the whole situation as he made his way back towards elevator, planning on disapparating away from the flat doors.

 

“Teddy?” he heard Victoire behind him and turned so fast he nearly fell over. He caught himself on the hallway wall and saw Victoire’s head popping out of her doorway, a toothbrush hanging from her mouth and her hair in a bun on top of her head.

 

“What are you doing here?” they said at the same time.

 

Victoire laughed and Teddy grinned, making his way back toward her.

 

“ _I_ live here,” she said, taking the toothbrush out of her mouth.

 

“Yeah, but it’s Friday, why aren’t you at the pitch?”

 

She snorted, “You think I’m going to go out for drinks with you if I have to be up at 5 in the morning? Not bloody likely. We have a late start today – I don’t have to be on the pitch til noon.”

 

“Oh,” Teddy said, now standing in front of her.

 

Her eyes searched him, amused, “Are those the same clothes you were wearing yester – _holy shit is that a hickey?_ ”

 

Teddy groaned, “Yes, just… I need to talk to you.”

 

Victoire raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at him, “This I definitely want to hear.” She threw open the door wider and fell back to let Teddy in.

 

“Don’t be so sure,” he muttered as he walked through the door.

 

He kicked off his shoes at the door, knowing from experience that Victoire hated when people tramped through her apartment with them on, and followed her down a short hallway into the living room.

 

“Make yourself at home, I’ll be right back,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared down another short hall way to the left that Teddy guessed led to the bedrooms.

 

Teddy collapsed onto a comfortable sofa and looked around the apartment. In front of him there was a large fireplace with a mantle covered in moving photographs. Some of Victoire and Elliot, some of Elliot and his family, and many of various permutations of the Weasley family. Then, near the end, he spotted one of him and Victoire from their days at Hogwarts. It was one of his favorites, snapped after Victoire’s Gryffindor quidditch team had won the cup against Ravenclaw during Teddy’s final year at school. Though his mates had scowled at him for nearly a week, Teddy had betrayed his house and worn Gryffindor colors to the game. The picture showed Victoire running and jumping into his arms, the snitch still clutched in her hands. Teddy spun her around and around in circles.

 

“So,” Victoire entered the room behind him, pulling him out of the memory. She walked around the couch and collapsed next to him, landing on her knees and sitting back. She was still in her pajama pants and a worn in t-shirt, and looked as relaxed as Teddy felt tense. “Tell me everything.”

 

Teddy looked at her and tried to think how he even wanted to start. He’d been so intent on talking to her about everything, on the impossibility of keeping this secret bottled up, that he hadn’t really thought about how she’d react.

 

He’d hooked up with her younger cousin for fuck’s sake.

 

“Teddy!” Victoire whined impatiently when he opened his mouth and shut it again a few times. “C’mon, was it Dave the Hot Bartender? Oh, my God is that why you left your jacket behind, you sneaky bastard!”

 

Teddy shook his head, wishing it _had_ _been_ Dave the Hot Bartender. Hooking up with one of James’ friends would be a lot easier to deal with than hooking up with James himself.

 

“Tori, I need you to promise you won’t freak out,” Teddy started. “Or hate me.”

 

Victoire narrowed her eyes at him, “You know I don’t make promises in advance,” she said, but then her eyes went soft. “But it is highly unlikely that I’m going to hate you.”

 

Teddy’s heart was pounding. He didn’t know if he liked those odds. He carded a hand through his hair, pulling it through a few bedhead knots.

 

“Teddy,” Victoire said in a different, kinder voice. She scooted closer to him and tugged his hand out of his hair. “You told me you were gay while we were dating, I’m pretty sure nothing you tell me about who you hooked up with can top that.” She said with a wry smile. “Mostly because I know that it wasn’t Elliot.”

 

Teddy laced his fingers through hers, grateful of the comfort and she smiled genuinely at him. “I’m guessing I know whoever it was?” She prompted.

 

He nodded.

 

She furrowed her brow, “Is he out?” Teddy nodded again, trying to work up the courage to spit it out. Victoire studied him, “I don’t know that many gay blokes. I mean, besides James obviously, but –”

 

She cut off when Teddy snorted before he could stop himself. Her eyes widened and he promptly groaned and moved his hands to hide his face, which felt like it was on fire.

 

“Why,” he managed to force out in the silence that followed. “Did you never think to mention that he was gay _before right now_?”

 

More silence.

 

He was definitely panicking now. He lowered his hands and looked over at Victoire, who was staring at him, slack-jawed.

 

“Please say something,” Teddy begged her.

 

She took a deep breath, “You went home with James. As in James Potter, my cousin, _that_ James?”

 

Teddy nodded, not knowing if he should start defending himself yet or give her more time to process the information.

 

“What are you thinking?” Teddy asked desperately her after another stretch of silence.

 

“I’m trying to figure out how I feel about this.”

 

Teddy swallowed hard.

 

“I… I actually don’t think I’m angry,” she continued, nodding as she said it. “Kind of weirded out, I think? And definitely confused.”

 

Teddy felt like he could breathe a bit better as she shook her head, giving him a look that clearly said _what the actual fuck?_

 

“I didn’t know it was him!” Teddy began, and launched into the whole story. He left out the details of what had happened when they got back to James’ flat and what, exactly, he’d been about to do when they finally recognized each other (mainly because Teddy didn’t think he was ready to relive those particular moments again himself) and by the time he finished his story, he was sure his face _and_ hair were bright red and Victoire had passed confusion and now looked a level of amused that Teddy was pretty sure he was offended by.

 

“This is still weird as hell, but that is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, barely containing laughter. “I cannot believe you have firsthand knowledge of my baby cousin’s sexual prowess.”

 

“Can we _not_ ,” Teddy ground out. “Refer to him as your baby cousin?”

 

Victoire laughed out loud at that, and Teddy glared at her for more than a minute as she fought to gain control of herself. She kept punctuating her laughter with _fun_ comments like ‘I can’t believe how many things Jamie and I suddenly have in common’ and ‘Merlin, I didn’t think _this_ was how you’d come out to the family,’ none of which Teddy appreciated.

 

“I hate you,” Teddy groaned, dropping his head back on the couch.

 

“Well, that’s not fair,” Victoire said, finally sobering up though Teddy could still hear the amusement in her voice. “You hook up with a member of my family and _you_ get to hate _me_ afterward? I don’t think so, Teddy Lupin.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me he was gay?!”

 

“Are you _serious_? Damn, Ted, I thought it was common knowledge! Did you even glance at a Quidditch magazine in India? Or even look at the gossip mag section? Any given week there’s a new article about it. Especially when he was dating Lucas.”

 

“ _What_?” Teddy nearly yelled, sitting up straight. “His best mate from Hogwarts, Lucas? Lucas Wood, Lucas?”

 

Victoire snorted again at the incredulous look on his face, “Merlin, I can’t believe you. Yeah, Teddy, Lucas-Wood-Lucas. Starting-Chaser-for-the-Tornadoes Lucas. They got together right around the time they graduated, I think. Anyway, I remember him coming out by telling everyone they were dating. I don’t know how you missed it, the two of them won Witch Weekly’s Hottest Couple the last two years in a row – James was disgusting about it.”

 

“They’re not still together are they?” Teddy asked, feeling the color draining from his face. Oh, he’d kill James Potter _dead_.

 

“No, they broke up a month or so ago. James moved out of their flat, got a fancy new one,” Victoire told him. Then she smirked something evil, “Though, you’d know more about James’ new flat than I would, Teddy-Bear.”

 

“I’ll kill you in your own living room, Tori.”

 

Victoire laughed again and Teddy scowled.

 

“Oh, don’t give me that. It’s your own fault for not keeping in touch with the family!”

 

“I kept in touch with them!” Teddy cried. “Harry visited at least once a month, and Ginny, Lily and Al, too – we just never discussed James’ dating life, funnily enough.”

 

“Didn’t you and James write to each other?”

 

“Yes!” Teddy said. “He never mentioned it! We talked about Quidditch and my work and random stuff, but he never mentioned any of this!”

 

“Well, in Jamie’s defense, the tabloids were mentioning his dating life more than enough.”

 

“Shit, I never imagined that _not_ reading trashy tabloids would have a detrimental effect on my life.”

 

“That’s what your Ravenclaw superiority will get you,” Victoire clicked her tongue.

 

Teddy lazily flipped her off.

 

“I can’t believe this,” Teddy dropped his head into his hands.

 

He could practically hear Victoire grinning, “Well?” she drew out the syllable.

 

“Well, what?” Teddy asked grumpily, not lifting his hands.

 

“Well, how was it?”

 

Teddy snapped his head up, “You are _not_ asking me that.” He said incredulously, his face burning again.

 

Victoire’s eyes flickered up to his hair, “Ooh, that dark red color is lust, isn’t it? Unless you’ve changed your emotional hair switches on me in the last five years?”

 

“Fuck,” Teddy wrangled control of his emotions and switched his hair back to blue, where it always slotted in nicely. It was easiest to keep his hair a pale blue – Teddy thought that his magic seemed to like that color best – though there was also a shade of sandy blonde that it was content to stay in too. He used that one professionally. Overall, Teddy really did have the color changing under control now, it just snuck up on him when he felt safe with someone or when he was taken by surprise – usually, both of those meant _Victoire_.

 

“You had a good time!” Victoire crowed, still looking too amused for Teddy’s liking. “I mean, objectively, James is fit. And I guess Lucas wouldn’t have stayed with him for so long if he was terrible at _all that_ , but –”

 

“Okay,” Teddy loudly interrupted her. “I didn’t know it was James for… well, the important parts,” Teddy defended. “God, he’s like twelve years old.”

 

“Oh, come on,” Victoire said, sounding a lot like her cousin. “He’s twenty-one, that’s hardly twelve.”

 

“He’s nearly six years younger than me!”

 

“Elliot’s five years older than I am, and no one’s ever said anything about that.”

 

“Yeah, well, your dad isn’t Elliot’s godfather.”

 

Victoire’s eyes got wide, “Damn, that’s right. I forgot about that.”

 

“Lucky you,” Teddy deadpanned.

 

“Well, you two agreed not to tell anyone about it, right?”

 

“And yet here I am,” Teddy sighed. He looked at Victoire. “Who’s James likely to tell, then?”

 

“What?”

 

“Who’s his,” he waved his hand at her. “Who’s his Tori?”

 

She grinned happily at him and he rolled his eyes. “Hmm… Al, probably?”

 

Teddy’s eyebrows found his hair, “Really? I didn’t think they were that close?”

 

“They weren’t until after they both graduated. They lived together for a while before James moved in with Lucas, and I think that’s what did it.”

 

Teddy took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair again. He’d learned more about James’ personal life in the last two hours than he had in the previous four years. And James’ personal life suddenly seemed like _a lot_ to Teddy. There was a recent ex-boyfriend of what sounded like around three years, and Al Potter would likely know intimate details about Teddy’s sex life.

 

Great.

 

“Do me a favor and cast a quick _Avada Kedavra_ on me?” Teddy told Victoire, leaning onto her shoulder.

 

She chuckled, “Not a chance, Teddy Lupin. Not before tonight’s party. I can’t deny myself that level of entertainment.”

 

“You’re the worst best mate ever,” Teddy grumbled.

 

“Back atcha,” Victoire said fondly, stacking her head on top of his. “Will you feel better if I give you some of Uncle George’s bruise-removing cream for that hickey?”

 

Teddy sighed, “Probably. Also, if Gran asks, I crashed here.”

 

“So needy.”

 

“You love me.”

 

“You do love testing that though, don’t you?” Victoire said, fairly, before standing up and disappearing into the back of her apartment.

 

 

 

When Teddy opened the back door to his Gran’s house, she briefly looked up from the stove where she was stirring a large pot of what smelled like his very favorite French Onion soup. Teddy was suddenly very aware of how long it had been since he’d eaten anything.

 

“Not dead, then,” Gran said in a tone that seemed to add on _what a shame._

 

Teddy blanched, “I’m sorry, I crashed at Tori’s.”

 

He kicked off his shoes by the door and padded over to her. Though he’d been taller than her for about half his life now, he never failed to find it odd. He figured that he’d always see her as Tall and Kind and A Little Scary Sometimes.

 

She looked up from her soup again and fixed him with a Look.

 

“I know, I should have sent a patronus,” Teddy continued. “I’m sorry – I haven’t lived with anyone for so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have people worry over me.”

 

Finally, the corner of Gran’s mouth twitched and she shook her head, turning back to her soup, “You’ve always had people worrying over you, Teddy, it was just from afar.”

 

“You and Harry gossiping over tea?”

 

“Every other Wednesday,” Gran said, replacing the lid on the pot. Teddy couldn’t decide if she was joking or not, and didn’t really think he wanted to know.

 

“Any chance I can get some of that?” he asked hopefully.

 

“You’re lucky you’ve been spoiled rotten your whole life,” Gran sighed. “Slice the bread, it’s on the fridge.”

 

Teddy walked over to the fridge to grab the loaf off of the top of it, but paused first to examine the pictures Gran had stuck to it. There were the old ones of him as a baby, as an eager eleven-year-old in his Hogwarts robes. There were a few of his mum and his dad, a few of his Gran and her late husband that he was named for. And then there were the newer ones.

 

One caught his eye and he reached for it. After half-heartedly attempting to maintain its sticking charm, the photo finally gave and Teddy held it in his hands, watching it. Gran was standing next to James, who had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Lucas Wood was on James’ other side, snapping a birthday hat onto his head as Lily leaned into him and laughed. Al was on Gran’s other side shaking his head at them and catching Gran’s eye. Gran turned and beamed at the camera.

 

“When was this?” Teddy asked, his voice soft. His heart was doing something funny in his chest.

 

Gran hmm’d at him, then walked over. “Oh,” she said with a grin. “That was this summer at Jamie’s 21st birthday party. Merlin, you’re all getting so damn old.”

 

Teddy felt a lump in his throat, “So, you know he’s gay?”

 

Gran looked up at him, puzzled, “Lucas is right there, isn’t he?” she gestured at the picture. “Are you alright?”

 

Teddy swallowed hard. What was wrong with him? He looked back down at the photo in his hands as photo-Gran swatted at photo-Lucas until he gave up pestering photo-James and looked at the camera.

 

_Acceptance,_ Teddy realized. He had proof in his hand of Gran’s acceptance of James even though she knew he was gay. James had been brave enough to tell everyone, regardless of what they thought. Meanwhile, Teddy was hiding in the closet from the people who raised him.

 

He felt like he was missing out on something big, suddenly. He’d always been a pretty private person, but as he stared at the picture in his hands he realized he wanted that. He wanted her to know.

 

“Teddy? You look a bit ill,” his Gran pressed a hand to his forehead and Teddy shook his head.

 

“I –” he started to make an excuse before he felt his stomach drop at the thought of it. He looked at her and just said it, “Gran, I’m gay.”

 

She slowly lowered her hand back to her side. “Oh.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Teddy looked away from her jerkily and pressed the picture back onto the fridge until he felt the charm hold again. His hands were shaking and he actually felt like he might be ill now.

 

“Teddy,” she said his name softly. Teddy didn’t turn around, he stared resolutely at the fridge. “Teddy, look at me.”

 

He turned, his heart pounding, and was immediately wrapped into his grandmother’s arms.

 

“I ran away from a pureblood family in the nineteen-seventies to marry a muggleborn wizard, Teddy Lupin, and that day I swore to myself I was done judging. I was done listening to their traditions and stigmas and I was done hating people for things that they didn’t deserve to be hated for. I did not go through all of that shit to judge my own grandson over something as inconsequential as being gay,” she told him fervently, holding him tight to her.

 

Teddy’s throat felt tight, “Love you.”

 

She pulled back and took his face in her hands. Her eyes were a grey that Teddy had attempted to copy many times and never quite managed, and they stared into his full of emotions that she sometimes had trouble articulating.

 

“You are the most important thing in my life, you know that, right?” she said and Teddy was definitely about to cry now because his Gran hardly ever got emotional with him.

 

He nodded.

 

“Good,” she said, and nodded brusquely. She let go of his face and turned to walk back to the stove. “That’s not to say I won’t be peeved if you disappear to another country in the midst of a gay panic again, alright? That was most certainly enough time and I’m getting too old to travel.”

 

Teddy choked out a laugh, “I did _not_ disappear in the midst of a _gay panic_ , Gran –”

 

She shot him A Look over her shoulder and he stopped.

 

“Fine, maybe _a little_ of a panic.”

 

His Gran heaved a put-upon sigh, “Only my daughter could produce an idiot Ravenclaw, I swear.”

 

“Oi!”

 

 

 

Teddy grinned as he reached out a hand to grab the gate that lead to the Potter House in Godric’s Hollow. He loved this house. He remembered the day that Harry and Ginny had finally moved in – his Gran had brought him over to see it and Harry and shown him to a room upstairs.

 

_“This one’s yours, mate,” Harry told him, Ginny grinning beside him with her hands resting on her very-pregnant belly._

_“Gran says you asked if I could stay over more now that you have a house?” Teddy looked up at his godfather, who grinned down at him._

_Harry crouched down until he was at Teddy’s five-year-old eye level, “Sure did, Ted. This house is yours too. You’re always welcome here, okay?”_

_“Wicked.”_

Teddy’s hand felt hot for a second as the gate read his magic signature and then he was allowed to push it open. He held it open for Gran, who walked in behind him. Up the path, Teddy could already hear the tell-tale signs of a party.

 

“Ready to enter the fray?” Gran asked.

 

“As I’ll ever be,” he chuckled, adjusting his grip on the giant tub of homemade sticky-toffee pudding his Gran insisted on bringing.

 

Teddy reached the door and just as he was about to reach for the doorknob, it swung open, “Teddy!” Harry’s grin cracked his face in two and he rushed forward to envelope his godson in a hug. Teddy did the best he could to hug back without coating them both in pudding.

 

“Were you waiting by the door?” Teddy laughed as Harry thumped him on the back.

 

“Maybe,” Harry said sheepishly, pulling back. “What? Is it a crime to be excited about seeing my godson?”

 

“You’d know better than me, Head Auror Potter,” Teddy grinned.

 

“Well, then I’m making it a crime for you to leave the country again,” Harry told him.

 

“Already told him that,” Gran supplied helpfully from just behind Teddy. “Threatened his life and everything.”

 

“Glad you did the thing proper,” Harry planted a kiss on Gran’s cheek.

 

“You two are impossible,” Teddy said, but he felt happier than he had in a long while. Teddy was someone who never minded solitude. He could be outgoing and extroverted when he needed to be, but much preferred existing in the quiet space that came after you left the party and flicked on the light to your own apartment.

 

But, now that he was back and standing on the brink of a Proper Weasley Party, he realized that maybe – just maybe – he’d missed this more than he’d let himself realize.

 

 

 

After being passed around the party and hugged by more people than he had been hugged by in nearly five years, Teddy finally found a moment alone under the heated marquee in the backyard. He collapsed onto a comfy red couch that, from squishy feel of it, he knew had been conquered by his godfather.

 

Not seconds later, a moving ball of blue and red collapsed next to and on top of him. He looked over and saw Lily, half on top of him and grinning up at him. His annoyance at the interruption vanished and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

 

“L-squared!” Teddy exclaimed, as she nestled into his side. “Happy Birthday! Where have you been hiding?”

 

She looked at him, grinning, and Teddy was struck by how much she looked like a feminized version of her oldest brother. Her auburn hair was nearly the same shade and her blue eyes sparkled with identical mischief behind a pair of fashionable glasses. Lily had her mother’s slight frame and nose, though, where James was tall and had inherited most of the Potter genes around the face. And, unlike James, Lily had her nose and most of the space on both of her ears pierced.

 

Teddy had always had a soft spot for Lily. She was nearly ten years his junior; of the Potter kids, he remembered her childhood best. From the time Harry had placed her in his arms in St. Mungo’s for the first time and she wrapped a tiny, chubby hand around his finger, Teddy loved the shit out of her. He’d read her bedtime stories, taught her to read her own bedtime stories, and when she’d been sorted into Ravenclaw, he’d been so thrilled that he’d traveled up to the school that weekend and demanded that James sneak her out to see him.

 

“I was in my room,” she answered. “Had to finish the book I was reading.” She paused and reached up to ruffle his hair, “I like the hair, it’s paler blue than it used to be, I think.”

 

“I like the piercings,” Teddy said, thumbing her nose. “There are more of them than there used to be, I think. What’d Harry and Ginny say?”

 

Lily shrugged, “I’m Head Girl and I’ve never scored below an E, Mum and Dad can’t say much.”

 

Teddy laughed at that, “I guess that’s true. How’s your eighteenth been so far?”

 

“Pretty great – woke up a bit hungover, but James left me some hangover potion and then Dad made pancakes. Thanks for the Indian candy, by the way – you know that’s my favorite.”

 

“I do, and you’re welcome.”

 

She scrutinized him then and said, “Dad promised to be nice to my boyfriend tonight, but since it’s my birthday, I’ve decided that you have to help.”

 

“Boyfriend?” Teddy raised an eyebrow at her.

 

“Yeah,” Lily sighed happily. “His name’s Ade. He’s the reserve seeker on James’ team – they signed him over the summer off the Nigerian National Team. I met him when I convinced James to let me go out with him after a game. I think he regrets that now that I’m seeing his teammate, but I’m not fussed. I wish I’d known you were in town last night, we went out to a club to celebrate my birthday and I didn’t even have to use a magicked ID this time!”

 

“Hence the hangover?” Teddy grinned.

 

“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes. “I hope James is worse off, though. He ditched us pretty early to pull some bloke so I hate him.”

 

Teddy felt the breath rush out of him. Lily had been at the same club last night, fucking hell. That could have ended a lot worse than it did. Teddy tried to shake it off, “Even though he left you a hangover potion?”

 

“Mmm, I guess you’re right,” she admitted. “You always bring out my sensitive side, Teddy, it’s disgusting. You sure you weren’t a Hufflepuff?”

 

Teddy gasped dramatically, “You take that back, Lily Luna.”

 

She raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge and Teddy’s hands flew to her sides, tickling her until she was shrieking with laughter, “Uncle, uncle!” she cried.

 

Teddy ceased and pulled Lily in for a tight hug, “I’ve missed you L-squared.”

 

Lily twisted to wrap her arms around his neck, “Missed you too, Teddy. I’m glad you’re back. Even if it was fun to visit you in India.”

 

“Those were always entertaining,” Teddy grinned.

 

She pulled back, “Remember when Al and I came down without Dad and we convinced you to let us rent those tiny muggle motorcycles for a day?”

 

“Yes, I do, and I think I’m still angry about it. Al got into a fight with that giant muggle he nearly ran over.”

 

“Good thing you’re so good at wandless magic then, huh?” Lily’s eyes twinkled in amusement and he rolled his eyes.

 

Something tugged at the back of his mind then, something that he’d thought about a lot while he was in India but had never been able to get a proper answer about. “Why didn’t James ever visit?”

 

Lily’s smile faded a bit, and she sighed, “That’s something you need to ask James.”

 

Teddy furrowed his brows, “So I wasn’t imagining it? All those shitty excuses _were_ just shitty excuses?”

 

“Not my place to say,” Lily pushed her glasses up her nose. “Ask him, okay?”

 

“Yeah, alright.” Teddy looked over her shoulder then and noticed Al walking toward them.

 

Al stopped before their couch, “Lils, Ade’s here. He’s with Dad and James.”

 

Lily groaned and jumped off the couch, grabbing Teddy’s hand and pulling him up, “C’mon you have to help with the rescue mission.”

 

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Teddy said, not super excited to be pulled into a conversation with James and Harry at the same time.

 

“It’s my birthday!”

 

“It’s my return party!”

 

“But I’m your favorite!” Lily said, pouting at him.

 

“You sure about that?” Al put in, looking at Teddy with an amused expression that made Teddy certain that Victoire was right. Al definitely knew. Great.

 

“I’m sure,” Lily scoffed. She grabbed Teddy’s hand again and dragged him into the house, Al trailing behind them muttering, “ _This_ I gotta see.”

 

Teddy shot him a look and he gave him an Innocent Look that fooled nobody.

 

“Ade!” Lily dropped Teddy’s hand and ran to meet her boyfriend, who Teddy assumed was the tall, dark man talking to Harry and James by the back door.

 

His stomach flipped as he realized that Ade was the man who’d shouted at James the night before in the club. His eyes slid from Ade over to James, who was laughing at something Harry was saying. The younger man was wearing a blue button-up and a pair of black jeans. He looked more attractive than Teddy ever wanted to admit to himself or others.

 

“Teddy!” Lily was waving him over from under her boyfriend’s arm.

 

He tugged at the bottom of his shirt self-consciously and plastered a smile onto his face as he walked over to the little group, “James, when did you get here?” he asked easily.

 

“Just now, Dad cornered us immediately,” he met Teddy’s eyes and grinned crookedly. Teddy’s eyes rolled before he could stop them.

 

“I did not!” Harry said. “I was just asking Ade –”

 

“Thanks, Dad,” Lily cut him off. “Teddy, this is Ade – Ade, Teddy.”

 

Teddy shook his hand, hoping beyond hope that it had been too dark in the club for Ade to have seen him properly.

 

_Or that James had been blocking his view_.

 

“I have heard a lot about you,” Ade said, an accent curling around the words. “You just returned to England, yes?”

 

Teddy nodded, “Yesterday.”

 

“Harry?” Ginny called sweetly, poking a head out of the kitchen.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“If you don’t get your cat out of the kitchen, I’m turning him into next week’s curry.”

 

“Damnit,” Harry muttered. His children laughed as he hurried off towards his wife.

 

“One of the Junior Aurors brought in a litter of kittens a few months ago and suckered Dad into bringing one home,” Lily explained to Teddy and Ade. “He’s really mischievous and gets into everything, so Mum’s always threatening to cook him. She’s named him Bludger.”

 

“Only because Dad wouldn’t let her call him Arsehole,” James added, and Teddy caught his eye and grinned.

 

“I think she secretly likes him, though. She accidently admitted that she lets him sleep in the bed with them, and she didn’t even let _us_ do that if she could help it,” Al rolled his eyes.

 

James jerked his head toward the marquee, “Let’s get alcohol, Uncle Percy’s looking at me like he wants to have a discussion about our prospects for the next game and I can’t handle that sober.”

 

On their way to the drink table, Victoire hopped up to them from around the front of the house, “Teddy!” she pounced on him and he hugged her tightly.

 

“I probably shouldn’t be so thrilled to see you after only a few hours, but I’m still excited that you’re back,” she breathed into his ear.

 

He laughed, “I’m there with you, Tori.”

 

He let go of her and turned to shake the hand of the dark-haired man behind her. Elliot was only a bit taller than Victoire, had a pair of glasses that Teddy was pretty sure that Percy had worn at one point during his childhood, and was generally a giant dork. He worked in the accounting department for the Holyhead Harpies, and met Victoire during her pay raise negotiations when she had been bumped up to starting seeker.

 

“Elliot,” Teddy shook his hand. “Good to see you, mate.”

 

“I’m glad you’re back so I can keep my fiancé in the country more often,” Elliot grinned wide and teasing.

 

“I promise I’ll still take her off your hands for a night when she gets annoying,” Teddy said and Victoire smacked his arm.

 

“I’m not annoying.”

 

“Bloody strong is what you are,” Teddy grumbled, rubbing his arm.

 

“Of course you’re not, dear,” Elliot pulled her in with an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. Victoire turned and kissed him properly.

 

“Merlin, you two are disgusting,” Teddy shook his head. “C’mon, let’s get a drink.”

 

They walked over to where the others were standing and Teddy noticed more Weasley cousins had joined their group. Teddy ruffled Rose’s bushy hair as Lily handed him plastic cup of something.

 

“Fuck off, Lupin,” Rose muttered half-heartedly, grinning up at him when he dropped an arm over her shoulders.

 

“Elliot, Victoire,” James nodded at them as Al passed them plastic cups too.

 

“Hi, Jamie,” Victoire said, only _just_ managing not to break into laughter. James raised his eyebrows at Teddy, who deftly ignored him. Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy noticed that Al suddenly looked like Christmas had come a couple weeks early.

 

“To Lily’s eighteenth and Teddy’s return!” Louis raised his glass and the others did the same.

 

“Cheers, guys,” Teddy took a sip and nearly coughed. Whatever Lily had put in this glass was _strong_. Delicious, yes, but _strong_.

 

It didn’t take long for Teddy to settle into a pleasant buzz. He excused himself from the ever-growing group of Weasley cousins for the loo, and on the way back ran into Harry, who was watching the group of kids out of the back window.

 

Teddy stopped and nudged him with an elbow, “Thanks for the party, Harry.”

 

Harry turned to him, grinning, “‘Course.”

 

Teddy looked out to where Harry had been looking, “What’re you –” he broke off and pulled a double-take at the familiar, new person who had joined the group in his absence. “Is that Lucas Wood?” he gaped.

 

Harry nodded, “Exactly.”

 

Lucas was sitting on the floor next to Lily, who had put her feet in his lap as she leaned against her boyfriend. Across the circle, James was telling a story, emphasizing points with sweeping hand gestures.

 

“Didn’t they break up?” Teddy asked.

 

“About two months ago, I reckon,” Harry said. “James said they were still mates. And I’ll admit, the Lucas is practically family at this point, but I honestly didn’t think they’d manage it.”

 

“Yes, well, you do live in denial that your children are growing up, Harry,” Ginny wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist and looked out the window. “James has really matured the last few years. He brought an appetizer and a nice bottle of wine with him today. To his own parents’ house!”

 

“I need another drink,” Harry shook his head, chuckling, and he grabbed Ginny’s hand, pulling her into the throng of people congregating in their living room.

 

As they disappeared, Teddy turned back and, through the window, happened to catch James’ eye. He winked and Teddy felt the roots of his hair start to warm up. Getting a grip on his hair, he walked back out intent on obtaining another one of Lily’s strong drinks.

 

 

 

Much later, when the extended Weasley family had left, Teddy found himself back on the squishy red couch with Lily pressed into his side, half-asleep. James was sitting on the floor with his back to the other side of the couch, and Ginny and Harry had pulled up chairs in front of it.

 

They were the only ones left; Teddy’s Gran had left earlier in the evening, and Al had flooed home only minutes ago, after what Teddy assumed was an exhausting evening of trading off subtle jokes with Victoire about Teddy and James’ hook up.

 

“Why don’t you two stay the night?” Ginny said as Teddy shook himself from his thoughts. He was still a bit drunk and very tired, and had been zoning out for the last few minutes, his eyes drooping.

 

Lily sighed into his side, “Yeah, Dad’ll make pancakes in the morning again if you do.”

 

“I will?” Harry asked, amused.

 

“Mhmm,” Lily grinned, opening one eye to look at her father. “Because I’m your favorite.”

 

James laughed, “That’s your reasoning for everything, Lils.”

 

“Because it’s true for everything,” Lily kicked at his head and James knocked her foot away with the speed of a Professional Keeper.

 

“It’ll be like old times, Teddy,” Lily looked up at him, her glasses crooked from leaning on him.

 

Teddy sighed, and knew that – much like Harry – he was wrapped around Lily’s finger, “Alright, if it’s not too much trouble, I’ll stay.”

 

“No trouble at all,” Ginny said happily. “You can stay in Al’s room. It’ll be nice to have the house full again.”

 

Lily hummed contentedly and Teddy rolled his eyes at Harry, who shrugged and shook his head in a commiserating sort of way.

  
When Lily finally retired to bed, the rest of them filtered inside. Teddy offered to help Harry and Ginny clean up, but they waved him off, “James’ll do it, Lucas told me he’s gotten good at cleaning charms.”

 

James groaned, “I’ll actually be heading home right now immediately.”

 

“Nice try,” Ginny said. “I didn’t do your laundry for seventeen years for nothing, Mister. Payback starts now.”

 

“I’m going to murder Luke,” James muttered.

 

“I wouldn’t, you’d be the prime suspect.”

 

“Yeah? Who’s going to throw Harry Potter’s son in Azkaban?”

 

“I’d venture Harry Potter himself might,” Harry grinned cheekily at his son, hooking an arm over his shoulder and leading him back outside.

 

“What use is nepotism if I still get thrown in jail for a tiny thing like murder?” Teddy heard James grumble. Harry threw back his head and laughed.

 

“Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll set some of Harry’s pajamas on Al’s bed for you?” Ginny offered, turning to him from her husband and son.

 

“Sounds great, thanks Ginny,” Teddy leaned in and kissed her cheek.

 

“Glad you’re back, Teddy.”

 

 

 

Teddy had just finished pulling an old Weird Sisters shirt over his head when there was a knock on the open door. Teddy had opened it after pulling on the pajama pants because it was stifling hot in Al’s room and he hoped it might cool down with some circulation.

 

James stood at the door, holding a neatly folded set of sheets, “Mum wanted me to bring up fresh sheets to replace the fresh sheets that are already on the bed.”

 

The statement would have been innocuous enough if James had been wearing a goddamn _shirt_. Instead, he stood there, in nothing but a damn set of flannel pajama pants and a lopsided grin. It was the first time since Teddy had left James’ flat that morning that they were alone together and Teddy felt the air around him solidify.

 

James set the sheets on Al’s desk, and continued in as if he were unaware that Teddy was gaping at his damn chest – which Teddy sincerely hoped he was, “Dad said to apologize for all the heating spells. Only, then he and Mum started flirt-fighting so I had to get out of there. I did, rather unfortunately, hear Dad make comments about how they could stay warm without them that I’m quite sure I’ll need therapy to recover from.”

 

James looked up at Teddy and grinned again, and Teddy laughed. “C’mon, it’s nice they’re still like that,” he said.

 

James pulled a face, “I suppose,” he allowed. “Though it’d be nice not to hear about it.”

 

“Fair enough,” Teddy said, pulling his wand from his pocket. He waved it and Al’s bed started stripping and remaking itself. 

 

Teddy tossed his wand on the bedside table and turned to back to James, who had walked into the room and was looking at a set of quidditch players on Al’s dresser. They marched around the shelf, scowling up at James as he poked at them, chuckling lightly.

 

Teddy leaned against the bed post and, without permission from the logical part of his brain, he blurted, “How come you never came to visit me while I was in India?”

 

James froze, his finger about to make contact with Viktor Krum’s large forehead, then slowly turned around to face him. His eyes bore into Teddy’s as if they were trying to read something there. Teddy held his gaze and made a very concerted effort to keep his hair blue, annoyed that it was trying to change on him in the first place.

 

“You never invited me to visit you,” James finally said, his hand jerking though his hair until it stood straight up. He leaned back against the wall beside the dresser and crossed his arms.

 

Teddy raised an eyebrow at him, “I didn’t think I needed to.” He told him honestly. “The rest of your family seemed to find their way down without explicit invitations.”

 

James’ throat bobbed up and down as he swallowed. He tore his eyes from Teddy and looked at the portrait of Hogwarts that Al had above his desk.

 

Teddy went on, “I thought we were mates, before I left. I mean, I liked hanging out with you when you were home from breaks and on Hogsmeade weekends. Were you just humoring me?”

 

Teddy didn’t necessarily feel insecure admitting all of this – he’d been planning on asking James about it when he got back, after all – but he couldn’t deny that it felt a bit odd to be having this conversation now that he and James were more… well, _intimately acquainted_.

 

“No, I wasn’t,” James finally said, looking back at Teddy. He sighed and pushed off the wall, walking over to sit on the remade-bed Teddy was leaning against. He folded a leg under himself and leaned back against the headboard, facing Teddy. “Do you remember the last time we hung out before you left?”

 

Teddy moved a bit around the bed so they were facing each other, Teddy leaning against the end of the bed and James sitting at the head of it. He nodded, “I met you in Hogsmeade. I think you snuck out of the castle.”

 

James grinned his lopsided grin, “Yeah, I did,” his smile faded. “We went into that new bookshop, remember?”

 

Teddy nodded.

 

James grimaced, but plowed on, “There was a gay couple in there, older, maybe my Dad’s age. I was not-so-subtly staring at them. I had just come to terms with the fact that I was gay, so it was reassuring.”

 

Teddy furrowed his brow, trying to recall, “I was wondering where you went and I found you over by where they were, right? They were eating a giant chocolate bar.”

 

James nodded, his voice sounded smaller as he continued, “You found me and then the couple kissed or something, and you said, _‘Merlin, I wish they wouldn’t do that in here.’_ ”

 

Teddy choked, but before he could force words out, James continued, “Felt like I’d been kicked in the chest. I think I made some excuse to go back to Hogwarts after that, I don’t really remember much until I was in the tunnel again. It’s why I never visited, or wrote you anything, you know, _personal_. Didn’t know if I could handle you saying something like that about me.”

 

“ _Fuck,_ ” Teddy cursed, moving around the bed and sitting right in front of James, placing his hands on the other man’s knees. “James, I was talking about them _eating that chocolate bar in the bookshop_.”

 

James’ voice was even and dry, “What?”

 

“They had left smears of chocolate on a book I’d found earlier! It annoyed me!”

 

James looked at him, mouth half opened, stunned.

 

“I was out to Victoire at that point, James. I’d been living in the guest room of our apartment for _months_.”

 

James let out a single, disbelieving chuckle, “Are you saying that I’ve been terrified that you would find out I was gay and wouldn’t want to be around me for nearly _five years_ all because you’re a giant fucking nerd about books?”

 

“Yes!” Teddy nodded vigorously. “Merlin, why didn’t you say anything! Why didn’t _anyone_ say anything?”

 

James briefly sucked his lip into his mouth, “I may have asked them not to tell you that I was gay until I could come out to you myself.”

 

It was Teddy’s turn to gape at James.

 

“I’m sorry!” James laughed.

 

“No, I’m sorry!” Teddy grinned back at him. “Fuck, I thought I’d done something to offend you, but I never would have guessed _that_.”

 

“What’d you think you did?”

 

“I didn’t know!” Teddy said. “That’s why I asked, isn’t it?”

 

“Well, now you know,” James mock-sighed. “I just can’t live with your homophobic comments, Lupin. Come back and beg for my forgiveness when you stop hating gay people.”

 

Teddy groaned, hanging his head, “All because they’d left chocolate on an autographed copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_.”

 

“You’d think, as gay men, they’d know all about fantastic beasts and where to find them,” James said, the smirk evident in his tone.

 

Teddy became immediately aware that his hands were still resting on James’ knees and moved them.

 

James was looking at him oddly when Teddy finally looked up again, “What?” he asked.

 

“You don’t have to be weird about this, you know,” James said.

 

“Weird about what? You thinking that I, a gay man, was making homophobic comments to you five years ago?”

 

James rolled his eyes, shaking his hair out of his face where it had fallen, “No, weird about the fact that you woke up in my bed this morning.”

 

“I – what – I’m not being weird!”

 

James fixed him with a look that he didn’t entirely appreciate and Teddy scowled at him, “Look, I’m just not used to this.”

 

“What?” James smirked, looking too cocky ( _and attractive_ ) for his own good. “Never had a one night stand before?”

 

Teddy couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. “Never had a –” he snorted. “No, James, that’s not what I’m saying. I’ve had plenty of one night stands before. It’s the _hanging out the next day_ thing that I’m not used to.”

 

James eyebrows found his hair, “Hanging around the next day? You’re telling me you never, in four and a half years, had a relationship with anyone?”

 

Teddy shrugged, “No, not really. I worked a lot and it wasn’t like I was going to bring anyone home to meet the family. It didn’t seem practical.”

 

“Didn’t seem practical,” James echoed back at him, looking at Teddy like he was in the middle of growing a second head and had asked for opinions on it.

 

“What?” Teddy said defensively.

 

“Nothing,” James said. “I guess there’s just a lot I didn’t know about you these last few years.”

 

“You’re one to talk,” Teddy muttered.

 

James stared at him for a second and then that damn smirk unfurled slowly over his face, “You know, I am kind of disappointed.”

 

Teddy narrowed his eyes. He might not know much about James anymore, but he would hazard a guess that that tone meant Nothing Good.

 

“Why are you disappointed?” Teddy asked, against his better judgement.

 

“You’re apparently a _connoisseur_ of one-night-stands and I feel a bit cheated that I never got to experience the whole thing.”

 

“Will you –” Teddy hissed. He turned around and waved his hand in a series of complicated motions until the door swung shut silently and the lock clicked into place.

 

“Merlin, you’re such a nerd,” he heard James mutter as he turned back to him.

 

“What are you on about?” Teddy said, swallowing a comment about the wandless magic he remembered James doing the night before. His eyes swept over James’ face and halfway down his chest before he realized what he was doing and snapped them back up to make eye contact.

 

“I’m just saying,” James went on, his voice sounding rougher and lower than it had a few minutes before, which Teddy tried to tell himself he _didn’t_ like and _wasn’t_ responding to on an instinctual level. “That after I had my mouth on your cock I wasn’t going to last for very long. I mean, _fuck_ , those sounds you were making alone nearly had me c–”

 

“ _James_ ,” Teddy said, slightly afraid at how husky his own voice sounded despite the fact that it was _meant_ to be a warning. James pushed his hair out of his face, which looked a bit flushed, as he raked his eyes over Teddy, pausing to stare at his lips.

 

“It’s certainly not _my_ fault I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what you said last night as your brought me off,” James continued, not taking his eyes off of Teddy’s lips as his tongue darted out to wet his own.

 

Teddy heard a moan and only half registered that it’d come from him.

 

James eyes met his again, “Pretty sure it was something about forgetting my own name?”

 

Teddy felt his heart pounding against his chest as he looked into James’ eyes for the span of time it took him to take exactly one breath.

 

Then, half knowing he’d probably regret it later, but not caring because blood was currently pooling in more fun places than his brain, he reached a hand out to the headboard by James’ head to brace himself and leaned forward.

 

He saw that _stupid_ _goddamn smirk_ cross James Potter’s face for a split second before Teddy was kissing it off of him. James’ hands tangled into his hair almost immediately. Teddy ran his free hand up James’ stomach, chest, and he felt James shiver as his hand ghosted its way back down again.

 

James broke the kiss and moved his head to slot their mouths together at a better angle. Teddy brought his hand to James’ neck and ran his thumb along the underside of his jaw as he licked into James’ mouth. James responded in kind, his mouth hot and wet and _skilled_. James took a hand out of Teddy’s hair to wrap around his waist and pull Teddy closer as he slid down the bed and –

 

Teddy let out a low noise that started in his chest as their hips came together, already more than half hard. He could feel James’ cock slide against his through the two thin layers that separated them. James used his hand to pull up on Teddy’s shirt and Teddy pulled his mouth away long enough for James to pull it over his head before he fell back on top of him, his skin tingling in all the places that it touched James’.

 

James slotted his hand back at the bottom of Teddy’s hairline and tried to pull his mouth back to his, but Teddy resisted, looking down at the stupidly fit bloke underneath him. James looked up at him, his lips red and his breathing fast. He raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

 

_Fuck, what are you doing?_ Teddy’s mind threw at him.

 

Then, louder, _Fuck, why_ aren’t _you doing anything?_

Deciding the second voice had the right of it, Teddy leaned down over James slowly, stopping right as their lips began to touch, “I believe I have a reputation to uphold.” He whispered, then without kissing James, he turned his head and mouthed roughly at his jaw, starting a slow descent down James’ body.

 

By the time Teddy had reached James’ nipples, lightly flicking one with this tongue, James let out a moan that was at least half-whine. Teddy smirked into James’ chest, pulling a hand up James’ inner thigh from his knee to his groin, and lightly running it up the length of James’ cock.

 

James tried to thrust up into his hand, but Teddy was still holding him down with his body weight so he didn’t get very far. Teddy continued to tease him through his pajamas until, when Teddy had almost reached James’ navel with his mouth, James huffed, eyes closed, “I’m going to fucking _murder you_.”

 

With a chuckle, Teddy decided that he’d had enough, and dropped off the bed onto his knees. James opened his eyes and bit his lip as Teddy pulled his legs around so that he was kneeling between them.

 

Teddy watched James as he hooked his fingers under James’ waistband. James leaned back on his hands and lifted his hips so Teddy could pull them down. Teddy licked his lips and James bit back at moan.

 

He looked down, then, and wrapped a hand confidently around James’ length. Teddy knew he was pretty good at giving head; knew that, in general, he really fucking liked watching a bloke come undone when he had his mouth on them. But bloody hell, when he finally parted his lips over James and James let out a breathy, _“Teddy, fuck.” –_

Well, Teddy knew right then that he could absolutely say there was no difference between knowing that it was James who was moaning his name in that wrecked sort of voice and back when he had thought it was a stranger named JP.

 

It’d be a bold-faced lie, sure, but Teddy could absolutely say it.

 

Because, between James’ hands curled tightly in his hair and his muttered expletives from above, Teddy was definitely more turned on now than he had ever been in his _life_. He moaned, simultaneously taking James as deeply as he could.

 

After that, it wasn’t long before James stilled, coming apart under his hand and his mouth, uttering Teddy’s name like it was a prayer and a curse.

 

Teddy had only a minute to revel in his accomplishment before James hauled him up to stand in front of him, pulled his cock out of his pajamas, and swirled his tongue around the tip before taking him into his mouth.

 

“ _Shit_ ,” Teddy braced himself on James’ shoulders, head falling forward. Having such a perfect goddamn view of James sucking him off did terrible things for his stamina and he barely lasted a full minute before shooting down James’ throat for the second time in two days.

 

They both collapsed on the bed – _Al’s bed, oops_ – afterward, eyes closed as they caught their breath and lowered their heartrates. Teddy could hear James’ breathing beside him, _knew full well_ this time that it was James Sirius Potter, and yet… couldn’t make himself feel bad about it.

 

I mean, fuck, the bloke had all but asked politely for Teddy to please blow him. Teddy could make a solid case that it would have been rude not to.

 

“Teddy?” James said after a minute or two of silence.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I don’t think you’re homophobic anymore, if you were wondering.”

 

Teddy laughed, “Yeah?” he asked innocently. “What changed your mind?”

 

He heard James chuckle, then the sound of the duvet rustling. Teddy turned to look at James, who was giving him an amused look, those damn blue eyes sparkling at him. He noticed that James’ had a light ring of gold around the pupil that Lily’s were missing.

 

“You know, I think we should keep doing that,” James told him.

 

Teddy raised his eyebrows.

 

“I’m serious,” James said. “You’re not out yet, I’m definitely not ready to be in a new relationship, why not have a little mutually beneficial fun? It’d be _practical_.”

 

Teddy mulled it over. Or, more accurately, he tried to imagine seeing James on a regular basis, knowing what he knew now, and _not_ wanting to shag him.

 

Yeah, _that_ scenario wasn’t going to happen.

 

Teddy sighed dramatically, “I guess you’re not too awful. I could probably suffer through.”

 

“Oi!” James turned, reaching a hand over to smack Teddy on the chest. Teddy laughed and rolled over, catching both of James’ hands and pinning them to the bed above his head as he straddled him.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to have better reflexes than that as a _Gay International Quidditch Star_?” Teddy asked, smirking down at him.

 

“I’ve changed my mind,” James huffed, his auburn hair still falling into his eyes. “You clearly have something against gay men.”

 

Teddy considered, “I have often had one particular thing up against gay men, so I guess you’re not _entirely_ wrong.”

 

“I think I’m going to need a practical demons–” James was cut off by a sharp knock on the door.

 

Teddy looked at the door, then back at James, who shrugged.

 

Jumping off of James, Teddy pulled his shirt back on. He checked to make sure James was, well, as properly clothed as he had been when he’d arrived, and then opened the door.

 

Lily stood right outside, her glasses covering tired eyes as she looked at Teddy, then behind him at James.

 

Teddy felt a blush creep up his face.

 

“Could you two keep it down or throw up a _silencio_? You _know_ how thin these walls are.”

 

Yep. Teddy’s entire face was bright red now, he was sure. He heard the bed creak as James left it and walked up behind him.

 

“Sorry, L-squared. I – er – forgot,” Teddy managed.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved a hand at him. “I don’t care, I’m just trying to _sleep_.” With another nod at both of them, she walked the few feet down the hall to her own bedroom door and disappeared behind it.

 

Teddy had never been more humiliated in his life. How the fuck had he forgotten that you could hear _literally everything_ through the walls in this damn house?

 

James, however, was badly suppressing laughter. He clapped a horrified-looking Teddy on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, mate. She can keep a secret better than anyone else in the whole damn family.” He moved past Teddy into the hallway. “G’night, Lupin.”

 

Seconds later, James’ bedroom door shut behind him and Teddy was left staring down the hallway wondering what the fuck he’d just gotten himself into.


	3. iii. the world was on fire and no one could save me but you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Med school is kicking my ass. I promise I'm still writing this in my head, though, and have it all planned out on paper too. Also, sorry this is probably a bit rough, I've only read through/edited it once because I wanted to post it today before I go die in the library. <3

**iii. the world was on fire and no one could save me but you**

 

 

Teddy stumbled down to the kitchen early the next morning and to find that he wasn’t the first one awake.

 

“Good morning,” James chirped at him, looking up from the _Prophet’s_ sport page.

 

Teddy narrowed his eyes at him, “I forgot how chipper you usually are in the mornings.”

 

Ginny snorted from her spot next to her son as Harry called, “Coffee, Teddy?” from across the kitchen where he was fulfilling his promise to Lily by making pancakes.

 

Teddy nodded and fell into the seat across the table from James. He briefly considered offering to help with the cooking, but decided it was too early to be polite.

 

“Are you going to Victoire’s game today?” Ginny asked him, setting down her page of the _Prophet_ and holding her hand out to James in a silent plea for the sport page.

 

“I dunno,” Teddy said. “I haven’t spent much time with my Gran since I’ve been back, and I really should start looking at apartment brochures. But I reckon Tori might murder me if I miss the first game I’m in the country for.”

 

“Well, we have our usual box if you decide to come,” Ginny smiled at him briefly before sighing and snatching the page from James in a flash of flesh and paper.

 

“Mum!” James whined. “I was reading that.”

 

“You read too slow.”

 

“You’re impatient.”

 

“You got it from someone, love,” Ginny raised her eyebrows at James, who rolled his eyes.

 

Harry walked back over and passed Teddy a large mug of coffee, “Thanks.”

 

“How’d you sleep?” Harry asked him, walking back to the stove.

 

“Very well, I –”

 

“I’m glad _someone_ did,” came a disgruntled voice from the doorway. Teddy turned to see Lily, her long hair a mess and her glasses lopsided, walk into the kitchen.

 

“What’s wrong?” Ginny asked.

 

“Nothing,” Lily huffed, pulling out the seat at the end of the table with a loud screeching noise. “I slept alright except that these two woke me up around midnight being so bloody loud.”

 

Teddy snapped his head around, feeling his face burn. _She wouldn’t_.

 

James, however, just laughed, “Sorry, Lils. You know that the walls are thin. If our snoring bothered you, you should have said something.”

 

Lily raised her eyebrows at her brother in what looked an awful lot like a challenge, “You know, come to think of it, it might not have been the snoring. Maybe that ghoul is back from Uncle Percy’s? It sounded more like the moaning and banging he gets up to.”

 

Teddy saw James level a stare at his sister followed by something that sounded like a muffled kick-fight under the table. Teddy, for his part, focused very hard on looking at his coffee and _not_ making eye contact with anyone.

 

Damn it, he should have been more careful about letting a Ravenclaw find out his secret. Lily could come up with thinly veiled references to he and James banging all day.

 

“I’ll kill Percy if that damn thing is back,” Ginny said, looking up from the _Prophet_ at last to scowl at the ceiling. “He’s supposed to keep it for another year, and then it’s Ron’s turn.”

 

“I can go have a look after breakfast,” Harry said. He flipped the pancakes in the pan.

 

“Great,” James cut in quickly. “Are the pancakes almost ready? I definitely want some before I head to practice.”

 

Thankfully, Lily dropped her teasing after that, though Teddy could feel her staring at him at various points throughout breakfast.

 

After they finished eating, James waved his wand lazily at the dishes and they flew to the sink to begin washing themselves.

 

“I’m so happy that I managed to raise at least one child who can perform a simple cleaning spell,” Ginny said, shooting an annoyed glance at Lily, who looked unperturbed.

 

“James knew he needed to master cleaning spells if he ever wanted to keep himself a nice bloke,” she said, turning the page of the _Prophet_ she’d been reading without looking up. “I, however, know that my sparkling personality will do that for me.”

 

James knocked Lily on the head as he walked around the table, “I’m telling Ade that you said that.”

 

Lily shrugged, “He knows. He’s great at cleaning spells.”

 

“Merlin, I hate that you’re dating my mate,” James groaned as everyone else laughed.

 

“Sounds to me like you’re only mad you can’t keep up in a battle of wits with a Ravenclaw,” Teddy told him. Lily high fived him.

 

“On that note, I hate all of you and I’m leaving.”

 

Still grinning, Teddy stood from the table, “I’m should get going too.”

 

The other three waved them off and James and Teddy walked into the living room where the largest fireplace was. James grabbed a pinch of floo powder and turned back around, catching Teddy staring at him with his brows furrowed.

 

James sighed, “Stop thinking so hard.”

 

“What?”

 

“You’re going to give yourself an aneurysm if you don’t relax a bit, Teddy. It’s you and me like it always has been, only now I know you give fantastic blow jobs so I’d like that to continue.”

 

“Will you keep your voice down,” Teddy hissed, looking behind him where the other Potter’s sat, even as he felt his hair changing to a dark red color against his will.

 

James chuckled, “Just keep your blood pressure in check, alright? I quite like hooking up with you and I can’t do that if you’re dead.”

 

Teddy was pretty sure James was just saying this to make him blush, but he couldn’t manage a proper glare when his hair was all lust colored.

 

With a wink, James threw the powder into the grate and disappeared to his quidditch compound. Annoyed, Teddy flooed back to his Gran’s house.

 

 

 

“I don’t see why you can’t just stay here,” Gran huffed over her tea later that day, glancing at Teddy from across the table.

 

Teddy looked up from the apartment brochure he was browsing and fixed his grandmother with a look, “I’m nearly twenty-seven. I need my own place.”

 

“You just don’t want to live with your ailing grandmother.” She took a sip of tea and furrowed her brows, “Are you worried about bringing blokes home, because I–”

 

“Gran!” Teddy cut across her. “No… well, yes, but no. That’s not the reason I’m not going to move in.”

 

Gran continued to look at him expectantly. He gave her a small smile, “You know how I am, Gran. I need my space.”

 

She sighed, “I’ll never figure out how my daughter’s son ended up such an introvert.” She grinned at him, a sly thing. “Those Lupin genes must be strong.”

 

Teddy grinned back, his stomach wiggling a bit as it always did at mention of his parents. It must have shown on his face, because Gran continued, “Remus was a bit of an introvert, too, I know I’ve told you that before,” Teddy nodded when she paused for affirmation.

 

“Remus opened up when you got to know him – another thing you and he have in common. He had a sense of humor on him like you wouldn’t believe. I think that’s what caught ‘Dora’s eye. At first, I wondered how they ended up together – what with her being loud and public about everything and him being quiet and secretive. Then they stayed over one night and your grandfather and I tried very hard to be annoyed when she kept us up all night laughing from the other room, but it was nice to hear her laugh.”

 

“I like hearing your stories about them,” Teddy told her.

 

“So, twenty seven is too old to live with your poor, lonely grandmother, but not too old to hear bedtime stories?”

 

“Shove off,” Teddy laughed. Gran smiled.

 

“You’re a lot like Remus, Teddy, but your ability to out-curse a foul-tempered goblin when you want to is something you definitely get from your mother.”

 

“Yeah? What’s that say about you then, Gran.”

 

“No idea,” Gran said primly. “It must come from Ted’s side of the family.”

 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Teddy told her. She scowled at him. He went back to looking at the pile of brochures he’d had owled to his Gran’s house before he arrived.

 

Before long, Gran gave up trying to convince Teddy to move in permanently and moved to the seat next to him to help him sift through the options. By the time they’d eaten an entire sleeve of biscuits, they had four solid apartment choices within his price range. At the upper end of it, sure, but still _within_. Teddy sent off the requests for viewings, wincing in sympathy as his Gran’s owl flew off into the freezing rain.

 

Victoire’s game was going to be miserable if this kept up.

 

Gran walked over to put the dishes in the sink and looked out the window that sat above it, “You should go finish sorting out your clothes before you end up with frostbite.”

 

Teddy groaned. Most of his winter wardrobe had been left behind when he moved to India, for obvious reasons. Gran had levitated the boxes from the attic before Teddy had arrived, but they were now piled haphazardly in the corner of his childhood bedroom.

 

“I hate unpacking. And packing. Remind me to never move again. Whatever flat I move into next will be the one I die in.”

 

Gran laughed, nudging him with her elbow, “Why do you think I’ve stayed in this house for so long, dear.”

 

“You mean it’s not nostalgia for scorch marks on the ceiling?” Teddy gestured at the things.

 

Gran looked up and sighed, “I really should have let Ginny teach you to cook. I hear her children are quite good at it.”

 

“I’m good at it!” Teddy defended, walking away from Gran and scooping up his brochures. “As long as it comes in a box and has simple instructions.”

 

“Box dinners? You’re a disgrace to the Black family line,” Gran sniffed.

 

“How _dare_ you!” Teddy gasped dramatically, turning with a hand on his chest. “You know very well there is nothing more important to me than my pureblood ancestry!”

 

“At least I got that right with you, then,” Gran said, a smile tugging at her lips. “Imagine if you had no proper values and ran off with a muggleborn.”

 

“Oh, the shame! The dishonor!” Teddy cried, pushing through the door and into the living room as his grandmother broke into fits of laughter behind him.

 

 

 

 

After what felt like decades (but was, in reality, a couple of hours at most), Teddy cut the tape on his last box. His grandmother had been in and out during the process (mostly to tease him about how slowly it was going), but had recently retreated to her study to work.

 

Looking down at the box’s contents, Teddy wondered again how he’d come to own so many damn sweaters. He pulled the first one from the last box and shook it out.

 

It was a dark blue with a silver J knitted into the front. He let out a laugh – this was the last Weasley Sweater he’d come home with before he left for India.

 

 

_The door shut with a_ snap _behind him, and he cringed, hoping that no one heard it. His breath came out in clouds illuminated by the Potter’s front porch lights. It was already dark outside, even though it wasn’t gone five. Inside, the Weasley Christmas Party carried on, loud and joyous._

_Teddy needed a moment._

_He tugged the sleeves of his newest sweater from Nana Weasley – a bright red monstrosity with a gaudy yellow T – over his hands and sat down on the top porch stair._

_It wasn’t that he didn’t love his crazy almost-family and their raucous Proper Weasley Parties, it’s just sometimes they were a bit much. And today, they were definitely that._

_For one thing, only last week Teddy was announced as the recipient of a prestigious research fellowship in India that started in February. All of the Weasleys, the Potters, and Gran were going out of their way to congratulate him and tell him they were proud, but_ ‘oh, how we’ll miss you!’ _He knew they smothered out of love, and yeah, he’d miss them like mad, too… but, well…_

_For a second thing, Victoire and he were still ‘dating’ even though they were sleeping in different rooms and were both pretty sure they wanted to be with men going forward._

_So._

_India._

_Teddy needed it._

_He took a deep breath, the cold stinging his lungs. Passing a hand over his face, he rubbed at his eyes and nearly fell off of the porch into the bushes when he heard, “Are you mental?”_

_His eyes flew open as he caught himself from tipping into Ginny’s fancy shrubbery, “James?”_

_The teen was laughing as he walked up the drive, his nose and cheeks red from the cold and his hands in his coat pockets, “It’s freezing out here. Where’s your coat?”_

_“Well,_ Mum _, it’s inside,” Teddy told him. “Where have you been?”_

_“Well,_ Mum _, I was at Luke’s. His dad just side-alonged me back.”_

_Teddy raised his eyebrows at James as he sat next to him on the porch, “You can’t go two weeks without seeing your best mate?”_

_“Shut it, Lupin,” James grumbled. Teddy thought the light from the porch made his face look even more flushed. “You know you were worse about Victoire, even before you started dating.”_

_Teddy sighed again, looking over his shoulder and through the Potter’s living room window. Victoire was grinning and shaking her head at something Dominique was telling her. Teddy’s heart felt constricted – affection, guilt, worry._

_“Yeah, maybe,” Teddy finally answered._

_“Are you really leaving in February, then?” James asked, and Teddy turned back to him._

_“Looks like it.”_

_“How long will you be there?”_

_“Dunno,” Teddy told him. “Depends on how long it takes me to finish my project.”_

_“Will you be back before I graduate?”_

_“You graduate next June,” Teddy chuckled._

_“I know that.”_

_“That’s soon.”_

_“I know that, too.”_

_“Probably not,” Teddy finally told him. “I’ll do my best to make it to the ceremony, though.”_

_His heart clinched again at the thought of all that he might miss while he’s gone. James had just hit a growth spurt like he couldn’t believe. He was nearly as tall as Teddy was now, though he still had that gangly, I-have-more-body-than-I’m-used-to way about him._

_James nodded, turning away from him and pushing his glasses up his nose. He looked at his trainers and kicked at a pebble on the step below where they were sitting, “You could turn it down, you know.”_

_Teddy looked at the sixteen-year-old. James was all stubborn pride and comebacks that were just on the edge of being really fucking hilarious. Teddy knew that the next few years could be when he and James really cemented their friendship. James was finally old enough that they could have mostly-adult conversations about life and what was going to happen after he graduated and, well, a lot of quidditch, if Teddy was being honest. The Potter-Weasley’s were nothing if not obsessed with that sport._

_But Teddy needed a moment._

_Teddy needed to figure out who the fuck he was before he could fold back into life in England and feel like he really_ fit _._

_“I can’t, James,” Teddy told him. “There are a lot of reasons that I need to go, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss everyone.”_

_James sighed, turning his face back to Teddy’s, “What if… what if I need to tell – er – talk to you… or something?”_

_Teddy furrowed his brow at the distressed look on James’ face, “You can always write, or visit, or both.” He paused, “Are you okay?”_

_“Yeah, yeah,” James said quickly. “I just… I feel like everything is changing. It’s messing with my head.”_

_“Merlin, me too,” Teddy admitted._

_“Life is a lot easier when you’re Lily’s age and you haven’t really figured out that you need to figure things out.”_

_Teddy laughed, “I think that’s the most adult thing I’ve ever heard you say.”_

_James groaned theatrically and dropped his forehead to Teddy’s shoulder. Teddy patted his head sympathetically._

_Suddenly James sat up and looked at Teddy’s sweater._

_“What?” Teddy asked, bemused._

_“She did it to you too!” James exclaimed, unzipping his coat to show Teddy his own sweater – dark blue with a silver J. “She said the color matched my eyes, but I think she just can’t keep track of who’s in what house anymore.”_

_“You would get the good colors,” Teddy told him, narrowing his eyes. “I got these because they ‘look good with my complexion.’ I can change my complexion easier than my outfit!”_

_“‘Good colors?’ God, I feel like a merman when I have this much blue on my body. She clearly likes you better to knit yours with Gryffindor colors.”_

_Teddy scoffed, “People are going to think I make rash decisions brought on by a bit of name calling!”_

_“Oi!” James laughed. “Watch it, nerd. Or else me and my Rash Decision Making Gryffindor Cousins are going to charm your underwear over your head.”_

_Teddy grinned, “Well, you know what we have to do then?”_

_James schooled his expression into a solemn one, “Duel to the death.”_

_“You know, that probably_ is _what you do in Gryffindor,” Teddy said thoughtfully. James shoved his arm. “No, I was thinking….” He focused, his eyes closing, and snapped his fingers._

_With a puff of smoke and a weird tickling sensation that made James squawk, Teddy looked down and found that it had worked. He was getting better at this wandless magic thing._

_“Much better,” Teddy grinned._

_“Bloody hell, Teddy, that’s impressive,” James said, looking down at his sweater. Well, Teddy’s sweater, to be specific._

_“I could switch the letters, too, but I think Nana Weasley might have a conniption if I messed with their integrity.”_

_“Probably,” James agreed. “Plus, now I have something to cry into late at night after you leave me for India in my hour of need.”_

_“Your hour of need?” Teddy laughed._

_“I’m about to come of age, I_ need _your old arse to help me figure out how to be a functioning adult!”_

_“Trust me, mate, you don’t want my help with that,” Teddy told him, thinking about any number of arguments he’d had with his ‘girlfriend’ lately._

 

 

 

“I inherited yours from James just before you left for India.”

 

Teddy blinked out of his memory, and saw Lily leaning against his door frame with her arms crossed.

 

“What?” he asked blankly.

 

“Your sweater,” Lily said. “James wore it a few times when we got back to Hogwarts, but right before you left he tossed it at me one night in the Common Room. He said it was too small, but I think it was after whatever fight you two had that made him scared to visit you.”

 

Teddy’s chest twinged painfully, “That was a misunderstanding, not a fight.”

 

Lily raised her eyebrows, “And was last night a misunderstanding, too?”

 

Teddy cleared his throat awkwardly, somehow caught off guard by the bluntness, even though he knew Lily well enough to expect it.

 

“Er – well –”

 

“I didn’t think it was,” Lily said, pushing off the door frame and walking into his room. She threw herself onto his bed, despite the fact that it was covered in his clothes. Teddy studied her, trying to decide if she was angry, curious, amused, or a mixture of all of them. Then, she said, “You’re the bloke he pulled the other night, aren’t you?”

 

He felt his face heat up, but nodded. He figured there wasn’t a point in trying to keep it from her now, “Yeah, but I didn’t know it was him at the time.” Feeling a bit like he was in an alternate reality, Teddy quickly told an abridged version of how he’d accidentally gone home with James.

 

When he finished the story, Lily looked like amusement was winning. Teddy figured it was probably the best outcome. “I thought so. No matter how I looked at it, you and Jamie deciding to bang one out for the first time in Al’s bedroom didn’t really make sense.”

 

“We didn’t – I don’t think–” Teddy spluttered, trying to object to the phrase ‘ _banging one out in Al’s bedroom_ ,’ but finding that he could not entirely denounce it.

 

“Plus, James isn’t one to sleep around, so him getting with you after getting with another bloke the night before didn’t really make sense either,” Lily continued, ignoring Teddy. “I don’t even think he’s been with anyone other than Lucas. Well, unless he’s been pulling in the last month or so, but Ade told me he didn’t think so.”

 

Teddy didn’t know what to say to any of that, so he folded his sweatshirt and laid it with the others he wanted to take with him to his apartment when he moved.

 

“Were you going to tell me?” Lily asked quietly.

 

Teddy looked back at her. She had propped herself up on her elbows.

 

“That James and I were hooking up?” Teddy asked, somewhat incredulously.

 

“No,” Lily rolled her eyes. “That you’re gay or bisexual, or whatever you identify as.”

 

Teddy took a deep breath, and moved to lay beside her on the bed, “Eventually.”

 

Lily dropped her elbows and laid back next to him. He turned his head to meet her eyes, “Gay.”

 

“Oh,” She nodded. “You know that I don’t give a flying kneazle, right?”

 

Teddy grinned at the phrase. He’d only ever heard the Potters (and himself) use it. He wasn’t sure where it even came from. “Yeah, I know. It’s not that.”

 

“What is it then?” Lily asked. She blinked at him and Teddy found himself thrown, again, at how much she’d grown up.

 

“I don’t think I even know, honestly.” He said, turning to look at the ceiling. “I’ve known for a while – since I was dating Tori, actually – but until I got back from India, she and Elliot were the only ones that knew. When I found out James was gay, and out, and that no one cared, it probably should have made it easier for me to come out, right? But –” he sighed. “I don’t know. I feel all this pressure. Like everyone has expected me to be this one person for so long and I can’t just tell them that I’m not who they think I am. I’m twenty-six and suddenly I have to tell everyone that their expectations for me are all wrong.”

 

He felt Lily move beside him and then her face was hanging over him. “Teddy, I love you like a brother, but if you keep thinking like that, I’m going to hex you.”

 

Teddy furrowed his brows.

 

“I know that it’s hard to come out, and that I don’t really understand a lot of it, but I do understand that all any of us ever want for you is your happiness. If that’s with another man, great. No one is trying to fit you into a certain box or put you on a path that you don’t want to follow. Do you know what Dad said to James when he told us all he was dating Lucas?”

 

Teddy shook his head.

 

“ _Thank Merlin – when you called us all together I thought you were going to say you got a girl pregnant._ ” Lily said. “And then James and Mum looked at him and said _What?!_ at the same time, in the exact same tone. Uncle Ron joked ‘ _At least Luke’s not a Slytherin,_ ’ Rose flipped him off, Aunt Hermione threatened to jinx her fingers together, and Uncle Fred asked if we could have dessert now.”

 

“I’m a little upset I missed that,” Teddy said mildly.

 

“It was pretty entertaining,” Lily allowed. “But later, Mum and Dad both told him they didn’t care who James dated as long as he was happy and that they were proud of him.”

 

“And you?” Teddy asked.

 

Lily snorted, “I already knew. I’d caught them in the loo on the Hogwarts Express on the way home.”

 

“Just have a sixth sense for that sort of thing, don’t you?” Teddy rolled his eyes at her as she laughed.

 

“James is really bloody loud,” she groaned, falling back onto the bed with a thump as Teddy’s face heated up again. “My childhood crush on Luke died a tragic death that day.”

 

Teddy laughed at that, and eventually they settled into an easy silence.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Teddy told her.

 

Lily looked at him and sighed, “Don’t be. Like I said, I imagine it’s a hard thing to say. I just hope you know that no one will be disappointed in you or anything stupid like that.”

 

“Thanks,” Teddy turned to grin at her.

 

“I am, however, a little disappointed to know that your taste in men includes my brother, though.”

 

“Shut up,” Teddy shoved her arm, his face bright red as she laughed.

 

 

 

 

Lily hopped up the stairs in front of him, shoving both hers and Teddy’s tickets into the back pocket of her jeans. Teddy nodded politely at the security wizard, and old man with a pouchy sort of stomach, and followed her up to their box. He was decidedly glad that _this_ guard hadn’t insisted on a pat down.

 

“I see my daughter managed to save you from all of your cardigans,” Ginny greeted him with a hug after he closed the door to the box behind him.

 

“I do not have that many cardigans,” Teddy said, somewhat indignantly.

 

“He’s lying,” Lily called from the other side of the room, where she was surveying the available finger-food. “He has two tall stacks of them lined up by his trunk.”

 

“That is a perfectly reasonable number of cardigans!” Teddy defended as the family members present snickered.

 

“I agree, Teddy!” Percy nodded at him, walking over and reaching out a hand. Teddy immediately decided to donate half of his cardigans to the St. Mungo’s Clothing Drive.

 

“Nice to see you again, Percy,” Teddy grinned anyway, shaking his hand.

 

“I didn’t get to say so last night, but I’m happy you’re back in town, Teddy.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“Teddy, come over here for a second, I need to talk to you!” Rose called. She was turned around in a seat near the front of the box, waving him over. Teddy excused himself and walked over, dropping into a chair next to her.

 

“Hullo, Hatstall,” Teddy said, grinning, and ruffling her hair. “What’s what?”

 

Rose narrowed her eyes at him, swatting his hands away from her tight, spiral curls, “Still with that nickname, Teddy? Even after I save you from Uncle Percy?”

 

Teddy shrugged, “I’m still a bit peeved I wasn’t there to see it. There wasn’t one when I was at Hogwarts.”

 

“Didn’t Lucas’ older sister come close?”

 

“Three minutes; I maintain that the hat was trying to decide if she should be allowed to stay at all, not which house she should be in.”

 

Rose laughed, and Teddy grinned at her. Rose was one of two Weasley kids in Slytherin - the other being Dominique, who was two years Rose’s senior. Like Lily, Rose was fiercely clever; but unlike her younger cousin, Rose had a calculating way of wielding her intelligence to her advantage that Teddy was both frightened and jealous of.

 

“I did call you over for a reason, though, other than saving you from a devastatingly boring conversation about cardigans,” Rose told him, reaching to the side of her to pull her bag into her lap. “I have your Potter-Weasley Cousin Secret Gift Exchange name here. It’s my year to run it.”

 

“Yeah? Who’d you assign to yourself?” Teddy asked, as she dug around in her bag.

 

“Lily,” Rose told him easily. “I’ve already told her what to get me.”

 

Teddy shook his head as she produced a scrap of paper, “You’re the worst person to run this, you dirty Slytherin.”

 

Rose shrugged, “I’d tell you to take it up with the person in charge, but I reckon you’d lose that one.” She grinned and handed him his name.

 

“Cheeky git,” Teddy muttered as he unfolded it. Rose’s tinkling laugh sounded beside him.

 

_Albus_

 

Teddy snorted, debating how much shit he’d be in if he gave Albus _the gift of perpetual silence_ in exchange for all the innuendos he managed to work into the conversation the previous night.

 

Though sucking James off on Al’s bed was probably enough payback for that, if Teddy was being completely honest.

 

He folded up the note and shoved it into his pocket, sighing.

 

Rose raised an eyebrow at him as she dropped her bag back on the floor, “Problem?”

 

“What?” Teddy asked. “Oh, no.” Rose didn’t look entirely convinced, so Teddy decided to change the subject before she started asking her trademarked scarily to-the-point questions, “Scorpius in town for the holidays yet?”

 

Rose tugged on her hair, twisting it around a finger, “No, he’s in Egypt until the 23rd. His training has really picked up now that he’s nearing the end. Uncle Bill tells me that’s how it always is, but I think –” she broke off suddenly, and looked around them.

 

“What?” Teddy asked, turning around in his seat, too.

 

Ginny and Percy were chatting with Lily by the food table. Bill and Louis seemed to be in a lively debate about something or the other, and Fleur was standing behind Lucy’s chair, folding the younger woman’s hair into an elaborate braid as they chatted.

 

Rose turned back to them, seemingly convinced that they were sitting far enough away that they wouldn’t be overheard, “Can you keep a secret?”

 

Teddy’s eyebrows flew up and he barely managed to swallow his laugh. His eyes raked over Rose’s dark complexion, met her hazel eyes, and he thought _Fuck it_ , “Considering Victoire’s the only one in the family who’s known I’m gay for the past five years, I’d say the chances are pretty good, yeah.”

 

Rose’s eyebrows flew towards her hairline. After a second, she nodded appreciatively, “Well played, Ted. And even after I’d heard you only just found out that James was gay.”

 

“Who told you that?” Teddy said, working very hard to keep his voice even.

 

Rose shrugged, “Al.”

 

_He’s definitely getting an exceptionally strong silencing charm for Christmas_.

 

Teddy shrugged right back at her, exuding a calm he only halfway felt, “You know I hate those gossip columns. And no one thought to write me a bloody letter about it.”

 

“Fair enough,” Rose said, turning back to the front to see if the game was starting yet. Teddy saw that the officials were still chatting off to the side of the pitch. “Those rags are more garbage than fact, anyway. Last month, _Witch Weekly_ ran a column about Hugo being an illegal animagus because he got drunk, passed out in a bar, and one of his mates put deer antlers on his head and left him there.”

 

“What did your mum say?” Teddy managed to ask through his laughter. He would have loved to see Minister of Magic Hermione Granger-Weasley react to that piece of news.

 

One side of Rose’s mouth twitched up, “I think she was peeved at first, but Dad laughed so hard he fell out of his chair, hit his head on the kitchen table, and knocked himself unconscious, so she was a bit distracted after that.”

 

Teddy’s laughter redoubled, and Rose joined in. When he finally managed to stop picturing the whole scene, he turned back to Rose and asked, “So, what’s your secret, then?”

 

“Oh,” she said, and looked around again. “I think they’re grooming Scorpius to take over for the project director on site in Egypt. They’ve been pulling him into special training sessions for a few months now, and Scor seems to think they’re hinting that way.”

 

Teddy raised his eyebrows, “Wouldn’t he have to move to Egypt to be a project director?”

 

“Yes, Dung-Brains, that’s the secret,” She rolled her eyes in a superior sort of way that Teddy was about 90% sure they practiced in the Slytherin Common Room. “His training ends around the same time I finish my research project with the apothecary here, and our lease is up not long after that. We’ve been talking about moving to Egypt after the summer. It won’t be hard for me to find work down there, Egypt’s always been flush with fancy apothecaries.”

 

“As someone with experience in the matter, I can tell you now: getting away won’t be easy.”

 

“I know,” Rose nodded. “I think Scorpius is going to propose soon. We’ll get married so that Mum and Dad can’t use our relationship status as an excuse for us not to move away together.”

 

“Romantic,” Teddy deadpanned.

 

Rose nearly shoved him out of his chair, “We’ve been together since we were about fifteen, it’s not like it wasn’t going to end this way regardless.”

 

Teddy righted himself again, “Well, I promise to show up to the wedding and make at least forty-five Slytherin jokes.”

 

“Aaaaaand let’s take a moment of silence for the death of your invitation.”

 

Before he and Rose could talk about much else, the announcer came on and began introducing the teams. Teddy jumped up and stood against the railing at the front of the box, waiting for them to call Victoire’s name.

 

It was colder at the edge, but nothing compared to how miserable it looked on the pitch. It had stopped raining, but Teddy could tell that the wind outside of the box was awful. He was very grateful for the charms that kept most of it out of their box. Why anyone wanted to play this damn sport all months of the year was beyond him.

 

The announcer called the Harpies by name, and then, finally, got to _Victoire Wealsey!_

 

Teddy wasn’t the only one in the box clapping and screaming for her, but he was definitely the loudest. He was so goddamn proud; he was so goddamn happy to be back. Victoire took a lap around the pitch, pulling a few tricks that made Teddy’s stomach lurch, and blew a kiss in their direction.

 

Not long after, Elliot rushed up beside him, out of breath, “Stupid… managers… wanted… a breakdown… of sales…” he huffed, pushing a hand into his side and using his other to straighten his glasses. “Almost… missed the… beginning.”

 

Teddy looked at him, amused, “I’m sure she would have forgiven you a brisk walk, El.”

 

Elliot looked at him as if he suggested they strip and streak across the pitch. “I wouldn’t have,” he muttered, then looked back out, his eyes finding Victoire and a grin stretching across his face.

 

Teddy rolled his eyes. Love made idiots of even the most reasonable men.

 

 

 

Lily wondered up to the front of the box to stand with them after the first half hour, fitting into the space between Teddy and Elliot that had been created by Elliot’s inane pacing. He’d started up after Victoire’s first snitch siting was cut short by a nicely-timed bludger.

 

“Is he okay?” she said a few minutes later, nodding toward Elliot.

 

“Dunno,” Teddy answered, watching Elliot mutter something under his breath as he watched Victoire. “Too afraid to ask, to tell you the truth.”

 

“Ah, well. There’s a reason we weren’t put in Gryffindor, Ted.”

 

“I’ve told you, you aren’t cool enough,” Teddy turned and saw James walking up to them, his face open and happy. He was wearing a nice pair of slacks and a heavy team jacket with POTTER stamped over the team logo on its breast. Teddy felt his mouth twitch into a smile.

 

“I know we’re close and all,” James continued, “but we can’t show favoritism to a few nerdy prats just because we’re fond of them.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Lily said sarcastically, dragging out the word as turned to face James. “I didn’t realize that ‘being cool’ meant running into a wall at full tilt and breaking your nose in front of half the school. You _will_ have to excuse me for that, dear brother.”

 

Teddy tried very hard to turn his laughter into a cough, but from the smug look on Lily’s face and the betrayed one on James’, he was pretty sure he’d failed.

 

“You know,” James said, scowling. “The older the older we get, the less bad I feel about being an arsehole to you when we were little.”

 

“I’ll find a way to live with the pain,” Lily said, walking past him to sit next to Rose, who was snickering.

 

James took her place next to Teddy at the railing, “Did you really run into a wall and break your nose?” he asked, grinning.

 

James threw him a look, “Peeves was pelting me with chalk and I thought I was on the fourth floor.”

 

“Were you?”

 

“Clearly not, or I would’ve run into a passageway and not a wall,” James huffed, and Teddy failed abysmally at suppressing his laughter. James shoved him, smiling now too, “It’s not like you didn’t do worse, Lupin. I know for a _fact_ that you fell all the way down those swotty Ravenclaw stairs and broke your ankle your third year.”

 

“Still,” Teddy smiled. “That was an accident. Running head-on into a wall is just dumb.”

 

James shook his head, running a hand through his hair. Teddy’s eyes took a trip from James’ hair, which looked like it was still wet, down the lines of his arm, his back, his arse, which looked amazing in –

 

“I managed to talk my coaches into letting me out a bit early on a ‘scouting mission’ to watch the game,” James said, looking out on the pitch and thankfully not noticing Teddy’s cheeks turning red. He quickly looked away from one of James’ many well-toned features. “We’re playing the Harpies right after the New Year, and they know we have a box in this stadium as well.”

 

“Have you played them since you and Tori have both been starting?” Teddy asked, finding Victoire’s speeding dot among the fourteen on the pitch.

 

James shook his head, “Hasn’t lined up properly until this year.” The quaffle soared past the other team’s Keeper and the Potter-Weasley box cheered as the announcer added to the Harpies considerable lead.

 

“It’s going to be awful, look,” James pointed out one of the Chasers, his arm nudging Teddy’s. “See the one that just scored? That’s Alexandra Rinker. This is only her second year playing professionally, and she’s started every game. She was a couple years below me at Hogwarts. Hufflepuff. Bloody _lethal_ on the pitch, but you couldn’t even hate her because she’s so fucking _nice_.”

 

Teddy laughed, turning to look at James, who was very close now. He wasn’t sure who had moved closer to whom, but he wasn’t upset about it. Teddy did, for posterity’s sake, quickly look around to make sure no one was paying them any weird amount of attention. They weren’t. He didn’t move away; James radiated warmth.

 

Looking back at the other man, who was almost exactly as tall at Teddy was, he was suddenly hit with a sense _rightness_ that he hadn’t entirely felt with James before then. Talking to him, joking with him, Teddy felt their easy friendship slotting back to how it had been before he left.

 

Or, maybe more accurately, how Teddy imagined it might have been if he stayed.

 

_Well, with one notable exception._

 

James’ open, joking nature and quick smiles set Teddy at ease, just as they’d always done before. Teddy realized long ago that James always knew where he belonged and pulled everyone around him into that feeling of _home_. With James standing close enough now that Teddy could smell his shampoo, he had to admit that James had only refined the skill with age.

 

“You’re annoyed that she’s nice?” Teddy asked.

 

James tore his eyes from the pitch to grin at him, the crooked, happy one he’d been wearing when he walked up before. He nodded, his face morphing into a put-upon sort of expression, “She’s the reason Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor for the Cup the first year I captained. She was a bloody _third year_ , but she scored fourteen goals on me that year. One of her throws jammed my finger the wrong way, snapped the bone, but even before that she was kicking my arse. After the game, while Pomfrey was healing it, she runs up and apologizes. She honestly felt terrible. Came at me with a full apology, completely seriously, just… _nice_.”

 

“Damn,” Teddy chuckles, turning back to the players. “How’d a third year get you that badly? Aren’t you supposed to be talented?”

 

“She’s ambidextrous!” James groaned. Teddy saw Rinker was streaking up toward the Keeper again. “Has this move where she brings the ball back with one hand, like she’s about to throw, and then, last second, rolls the ball behind her back to her other hand and throws it with that opposite hand towards the opposite hoop. Even if you know about the move, you’ve still only got about a 50% chance of guessing which hand she’s about to actually throw with. _Lethal_.”

 

Teddy watched closely and, so quickly that he would have missed it if James hadn’t pointed it out, Rinker executed the move and scored as the Keeper dove in the wrong direction, again.

 

He let out a low whistle, leaning into James without realizing it as a gust of wind tried its hardest to get to them. “How are you going to defend against that?”

 

“I figured it out,” James said, meeting Teddy’s eyes with a shit-eating grin that made Teddy smile back at him instinctively. “She has a tell. You have to watch her legs; if she’s going to switch hands, she readjusts how she’s sitting on her broom to give her leverage for a throw in the other direction. It’s subtle, but it’s there.”

 

Teddy raised his eyebrows at him, “Color me impressed.”

 

James rolled his eyes, “Don’t act so surprised.”

 

“I’m not!”

 

“Still be more impressive if she didn’t score at all, though, eh?” James’ eyes twinkled in amusement and Teddy’s cheeks were aching a bit from this stupid smile that wouldn’t calm the fuck down.

 

“I just state the facts, James, I don’t make ‘em,” he said easily, turning back to the pitch as James elbowed him in the side. Under his beanie, Teddy’s hair was a vibrant, golden color – happy, content – and Teddy didn’t have it in his heart to be annoyed that he was losing control of it completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Teddy is just going to casually come out to more people in each chapter until everyone knows. My Teddy isn't a Big Announcement kinda guy.
> 
> Let me know what you think :D


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